The Crimson Dovah - Paused
by Kaiimei
Summary: A normal day. Nothing odd was happening, and Ruby went through the day just like any other. Dozing off whilst doing homework, there were no signs that her life was about to change so drastically. But, when she closed her eyes and fell to sleep, she was forced to leave her world and friends behind, and her mind went to Tamriel, leaving her world behind.
1. Chapter 1

**Okay, second story. No big deal, It's fine. Totally not procrastinating on writing the Ballroom/Initiation chapter of Watching Rose. Nah, not me. ****Alright, FINE! I'm kinda bored and tired of what I currently have lined up for Chapter 4, so instead of forcing my way through it, I'm going to just write a second story alongside it! Expect chapter 4 in a week or two, and between then and now, I'll probably have 2 chapters of this new story out.**

**Anyways, this is The Crimson Dovah. Again, just like The Watching Rose, not going to be very heavy on the fighting, more focused on the misadventures Ruby can get up to in her predicament. I will probably write some light combat into this, but the main focus is on the unique situations Ruby will find herself in.**

**And, as always...**

_**I do not own Skyrim or RWBY. Skyrim is owned by Bethesda, RWBY is owned by Rooster Teeth.**_

_**Chapter 1**_

* * *

Our story begins with a day like any other. Birds were chirping, clouds were lazily drifting, and Ruby was running away from Weiss and her copious piles of homework. So, just like normal.

"No, I refuse to be tethered down by such mortal things as HOMEWORK!" Ruby screams at Weiss, rounding a corner and pulling another burst of speed from her semblance, leaving behind Weiss, who was in the process of summoning a Glyph to trap Ruby in.

"Argh! You insufferable dolt! I'm going to catch you eventually and so help me if it isn't in the next 5 minutes I'm throwing all your hidden cookie stashes out the window!"

"Pwwsh, you don't even know where they are! Anyway, why bother with homework? I mean, it's Professor Port's homework we're talking about. The only person who hands that in is you, Weiss, and he forgets he even set any homework! That's another thi-EEP!" Whatever Ruby was about to say was cut off as Weiss' strategically placed Glyphs pen her in, ensuring that no matter where she runs, she'll end up in a trap.

"Haa! Finally. Now, Ruby, just because he doesn't ask for it does not mean it's useless, quite the contrary. It matters not whether the work is graded by a teacher, since I will be checking the homework myself, so it's basically as good as doing the homework properly! Now, come on. The sooner you finish it, the sooner you can go and do...whatever it is you were originally planning to do. And, how does this sound, if you finish the homework without needing my help, I promise I won't threaten to throw your cookies out the window again?"

Perking up at this, Ruby vigorously nods, before making her way carefully to Weiss, avoiding the Glyphs that Weiss had placed.

"Okay Weiss, though I still think it's a waste of time that could be better spent on important matters. Like the fact that Vale is going through a cookie shortage! Or that Yang still thinks that the Achieve Men make good music, not noise akin to a dumpster being hammered on. I thought she'd grow out of them, but she still loves them." Ruby gags at this, before turning to face Weiss again. "So, what are you going to be doing today Weiss? Aside from hunting me down of course!" Ruby snaps with a sloppy salute.

Weiss pinches the bridge of her nose. "Ugh, put your hand down Ruby, seriously. I was meant to be going over my own notes, but since now I won't have time today, I'm going to go and meet Neptune in the Library. And no, that doesn't give you an excuse to slack off of doing homework." At this, Weiss stares at Ruby. "Ruby, promise you won't immediately just slack off and go to the workshop to play around with Crescent Rose. If you do, I won't be held responsible for anything that happens afterwards."

"Oh, I promise Weiss. I won't leave the dorm until the pile of...homework" Ruby deliberately makes a choking sound upon saying this. "is finished. I swear it upon Yang's hair!"

Arriving at the dorm, Weiss turns to face Ruby again. "Ruby, considering how much Yang values her hair, either you really don't plan on leaving the room, or you're just suicidal. Anyway, I'll leave you to it. And remember, you promised. Please don't just ignore the homework."

Spinning on a heel, Weiss strides off towards the Library, leaving Ruby to enter the empty room and slump down onto her bed, homework in hand.

'_Okay Ruby, you can handle this. It's just a few dozen pages of boring homework, nothing serious_. _Question 1, what's the weakest point of a Deathstalker? Oh, that's the stinger joint! Huh, that wasn't actually that har_-' Upon reading the next question, Ruby rereads it, eyes glazing over in anger."HOW AM I MEANT TO KNOW HOW MANY FEATHERS A NEVERMORE LAUNCHES ON AVERAGE?!" Sighing, Ruby slumps back down, thinking the question over several times. '_Who would even know that? I mean, Oobleck maybe, but why should I know that? I bet this is just because of that time I got pinned by one in Initiation. Stupid Port, stupid Nevermore feather. GRAH!'_

With this, Ruby lies back, closing her eyes and reconsidering the question. Slowly, she drifts off, mind still considering the feathers of a Nevermore.

* * *

Darkness greeted Ruby when she woke up. Waiting for her eyes to adjust, Ruby frowned when she realized two things simultaneously. Firstly, wherever she was, it was dark enough that, despite sitting in darkness for a good minute, she had yet to actually see anything. And, more worryingly, Ruby realized that she wasn't lying on her comfy bed anymore. In fact, it felt distinctly like she was lying down on pavement, or stone, or something made out of material which shouldn't be found in a dorm room.

Shaking her head, Ruby raised her arm in an attempt to feel her way around wherever she was, only to realize that she couldn't move her arm. Trying again, Ruby felt something shift, and panicked when she realized that she was moving, but she wasn't moving her arm. It was entirely in the wrong place and felt wrong, almost cold.

Sighing internally, Ruby then had her epiphany, that she was simply dreaming.

Smiling to herself, at least as much as whatever her new form was would allow, Ruby decided to make the most of this dream, now that she was lucid. Shaking her oddly-shaped head, she began to nose her way around, feeling for any indication of an exit, a door perhaps, or simply a thin wall she could attempt to breach her way through.

After bumping into walls a few times, and carefully running whatever passed for her arm along the wall, Ruby came to the conclusion that she was encased in something. What, she had no idea, but it seemed like she was trapped for the time being. So, curling in on herself, Ruby resolved to wait until the dream had enough and either ended, or let her actually do something.

'_Waiting is over-rated.' _Ruby thought to herself, after what she felt like a good 10 minutes had passed.

Groaning, Ruby decided to look for an escape again, despite already nosing her way across every square inch of the perimeter of her newly-dubbed cell.

After making her way around the perimeter, or what she thought was the entire perimeter, a few times, just to be safe, Ruby began curled back in on herself, when suddenly, with a flash of light and some kind of strange language being yelled, one of the walls simply ceased to be, along with a good portion of the ceiling.

Spending a good long while in perfect darkness, the new light blinded Ruby, and she couldn't make out what had caused the sudden hole to appear in her room. However, after a few seconds, and some very rapid blinking, Ruby gained enough vision in a short while to see a few things.

One, a man was stood on the rubble that the sudden hole had strewn into the room. Two, said man was wearing some very unique equipment, looking more like one of those Atlesian 'Barbarian' fighters in those weird fighting games, despite Atlesians actually being better-equipped than pretty much anybody else, as Weiss seemed happy enough to say whenever Yang would bring out one of those games. His armor looked like a mesh of old knight equipment, similar to what Jaune wore but with less white and gold and more unpainted iron and leather, and animal parts, as seen by the necklace around his neck being decorated by fangs, and the large horns protruding from his equally strange helmet.

And third, said man was staring at Ruby as if he were staring at a ghost, causing Ruby to curl more into herself, before then realizing that she was curling into herself, and then took a good look at herself, causing her to open her mouth and let out a very squeaky "Huh?" which came out more like a squeak than actual words.

Positioned above her forearms, she had wings. In place of her regular body, she had scales. In place of her normal limbs, which should come from the bottom and sides of her torso, instead, they protruded outwards from her scaly chest. And, most importantly, she had a massive tail.

Massive in scale to her that is, since, after glancing back at the man, she realized that either the man was absolutely gigantic, which seemed unlikely, or she was rather small, about the size of a cat, which seemed slightly less unlikely.

"A...Baby Dragon?" The man suddenly let out quietly, slightly lowering the sword that Ruby only just noticed he was wielding, whilst simultaneously noting the lightning currently wreathing its way across his other hand.

"Uhm, h-hello?" Ruby tries to say, only to realize that the man was unlikely to even understand her, considering that, for lack of a better word, she was now some kind of baby 'dragon' as the man so eloquently put it.

Suddenly, the man narrows his eyes, as if she'd said something particularly offensive about his mother, grasping his sword tighter and raising his lightning-shrouded hand towards Ruby, causing her to swiftly back up into a wall and wrap her tail around her front instinctively, somehow surprising the man with this action.

"A-aren't you going to attack me?" The man says, cautiously stepping forward into the room, hand still raised, but pointing slightly away from Ruby, sword in a ready but casual guard, attempting to be both ready to fight, but also non-threatening at the same time.

"Why would I attack you!" Ruby yells, hoping that at least she can make some kind of noise that the man would hear. All she succeeds in doing though, is a throaty, almost yawning sounding whisper of sound. The man notices her agitation attempting to speak and kneels down, looking carefully towards her eyes, seemingly trying to be as un-imposing as possible.

"Okay, look. I'm going to put my sword away and cut my lightning off, but you have to promise to not attack me, okay? If you can understand me, shake your head up and down."

Internally face-palming at her stupidity at not showing that she can understand him through gestures, Ruby hastily and vigorously nods, garnering a slight smile from the still-wary man, who carefully sheathes his sword and makes his lightning hand switch off, causing no small amount of confusion to erupt in Ruby's mind, since she couldn't see dust anywhere on the mans gauntlet, meaning he must be rather skilled with dust to manipulate it like...however he's doing it!

"Okay, so, we've established that you aren't trying to be a threat and that you understand me. Do you know where you are?" At this, Ruby shakes her head. "Hmm, okay. Well, do you know...what year it is?" Again, Ruby shakes her head, internally getting a bit frustrated at his lack of actually providing information.

Pursing his lips, the man seems to consider Ruby for a moment, before shaking his head and muttering something that sounded suspiciously like "By Talos, why me?"

"Okay, here's the deal Red," Ruby bristles at this, hating the little nickname Roman gave her, apparently not visibly enough though, as the man continues, "If you want to get out of here, you'll have to stick by me, and I've got a few rules for ya. First, no attacking people except in self-defence. Second, no trying to sneak off unless I tell you that you can go do something. Third, if I tell you to do something, you do it, even against the other two rules, since there will come times where you might have to attack some people first. It won't be self-defence, but to most people around here, they don't care if you attack bandits first. Now, if those sound acceptable to you, nod. If they don't sound good, shake your head from side to side, and I'll happily reseal the stone I blew open and be on my way, and you can go back to...whatever it is you were doing in here."

Ruby nods at this, quite happy that she'd finally be able to go outside, even if it is with this strange, slightly aggressive man. Trotting over to him, Ruby raises her Dragon-y head up towards him and stretching herself out, giving her new crimson wings a good flap, accidentally raising herself off the ground slightly, prompting both her and the new man to let out a slight yelp of surprise. Glancing back at the man after giving her wings a quick look-over, she notices that his hand is on his sword, and faint sparks are visible on his hand again.

"Okay, new rule. No flapping your wings around like that, especially near me. I don't want to have my helmet constantly flying off my head!" The man yells, slightly red-cheeked at the fact that a baby dragon managed to scare him slightly. Ruby simply looks at him, twisting her head 90 degrees to the side like a puppy, then jumping when she realized that she could actually do that. Looking over herself one final time, Ruby then begins trying out things like twisting her head around to look behind her using only her neck, wrapping her tail around herself defensively, and various other things which would be impossible for her normally, while the man simply sighs, and pulls out a folded piece of paper from somewhere under his armor.

"Hey, Red, you know how to read a map?" Ignoring the new nickname, Ruby nods, trotting over to where the man had carefully laid out his paper, revealing it to be, surprise surprise, a map. But, upon close inspection, Ruby could only think one thing.

'_I don't think I'm on Remnant any more...Even my imagination isn't good enough for this...' _Ruby thinks to herself as she looks over the clearly different map, unable to link it to any map she'd ever seen, fictional or not, before slightly panicking at the thought that she might, in fact, be awake, actually here, next to this man, looking at a map of somewhere that Ruby had never seen before, in the body of a dragon, with no sign of how she got there, nor how to get back.

At this, Ruby suddenly yelps, drawing the mans attention from the map, a sudden realization dawning upon her. '_What happened on Remnant? Did I die? Did I just vanish? Oh no, no no no, what do the others think happened_?!'

Lost in her own thought, Ruby barely even noticed the man now staring at her with interest, noting to himself how this Crimson-Red Baby Dragon was seemingly internally panicking at something. Admittedly, considering the tomb he found it in had been sealed since Alduin was first recorded, making it the first time in over 4000 years that the tomb had been inhabited by anything other than this dragon, only being opened today thanks to his pyrotechnic skills, but it still seemed as though this dragon wasn't panicking at something like that. Besides, the dragon looked healthy enough, as though it had been there a day at most, despite that being very improbable, considering the only entrance is the hole he was now standing in.

Plus, the dragon was able to understand his speech, which was an enigma in itself, considering the dragon shouldn't have been able to understand a language developed after the tomb was created. Thus, the only logical explanation for this would be that this dragon was in fact freshly born to this world, trained to understand human language, then somehow sent to this Tomb to wait for Alduin to come along and bind it, just like Kynesgrove. Well, as the Dragonborn, surely taking this young dragon from where Alduin could find it and bind it to his will, and instead raise it to be useful would be an action befitting the Dragonborn! Perhaps he could even train it to fight against Alduins will, and use it as a fighter and scout against the damnable world-eater.

And also because it'd be pretty cool to have a crimson dragon as a companion. Lydia is nice, but she could do with being a bit more assertive, instead of muttering about burdens constantly. And don't even get started about Sven. Lydia at least is competent in fighting, Sven just wildly swings his weapon at whatever comes close. Speaking of competent fighting...

"Hey Red," Ruby snaps herself out of her sorrowful thoughts about her friends to gaze at the man. "Do you actually know how to fight?" At this, Ruby thinks for a moment, before twisting her neck back and forth, tipping her head one way, then the other. Repeating this a few times, she continues looking at the man, who is simply staring, trying to figure out what she wants to tell him, before snapping his fingers together. "Oh, you mean that as a so-so answer, right?" Ruby nods again. "Alright, so, how do you mean, so-so?"

Burying her head in the rubble around, Ruby lets out a quiet roar of annoyance at her lack of communication skills, wishing she knew more about that pink-haired mute that Yang fought since she seemed quite good at conveying her thoughts to people. Though, she was human, so she had facial expressions to help with that. All Ruby had now were scales. Upon un-burying her head and looking back at the man, Ruby thought for a moment, before walking forward and nudging his sword, then glancing back up at him expectantly.

"Hmm? You want me to...draw it?" Nodding, Ruby then spins around, hearing the sound of a sword drawn from its scabbard. Bouncing a few steps away, Ruby takes a few moments to unlimber her new limbs, get a feel for how she can now move, before spinning on the spot and facing the man again, then unfolding her wings from her back and gently flapping them a few times, looking at the man all the while, who, after a few moments, realizes what she's trying to say.

"Okay, fine, you can use your wings. Just, try to avoid blowing my helmet off. So, what do you want to do, I'm guessing you want to do a practice spar?" Nodding vigorously, Ruby settles into what feels like a decent stance, still trying to get used to her new reptilian body, mentally planning her attack on the man in front of her, everything else shut out.

"Well, I can safely say I never thought I'd get into a practice spar with a baby dragon, probably be worth a good mead or two as a story. Well, whenever you're ready I guess Red." He said, settling himself into a guard stance, one hand holding his sword the other out, ready to balance himself against his opponent. Considering it's size, he decides that the dragon will probably attempt to use it's small frame to get in close and avoid sword swings using speed, then maybe go for the back of the knees, knocking him down far enough that it could then leap up and maul him.

Imagine his surprise then, when the little red dragon zips forward at lightning speed, unfurling its wings and blasting towards him in mid-air, suddenly wrapping around his throat like a python, before headbutting his jugular in a clear display of lethality. In a live fight, he knew that the little red dragon could have easily clamped down on his jugular and safely fled before he could even get a revenge attack in. After the headbutt, the dragon then unwraps itself, settling on his shoulder, before considering its position, and apparently deciding that a shoulder is a comfortable place, wrapping its tail under his armpit for stability, nestling itself comfortably on his shoulder, whilst it's head cranes away and back towards him, looking at him in an expectant gaze, a mischievous glint in its eyes.

"W-Well, definitely fast there Red. Okay, I can see why you said so-so. I could imagine that against an opponent covered in heavy armor with no spots you could easily bite or scratch, you'd be pretty useless," The dragon lowers it's head slightly and does the best impression of a sulk that a dragon could do. "but against someone with any kind of opening not covered in leather or chainmail, so people like me, you'd be the perfect little assassin." At this, Ruby has the dragon equivalent of a blush, before nudging his cheek and wrapping her head around herself.

"To be fair, while it's quite odd, it'll definitely be faster and easier for us if you travel on my shoulder since it means you won't have to eat as much, and we'll move at my pace. And, surprisingly, you aren't that heavy, so it's not like I'm gonna be moving slower or be very sore after having you on my shoulder for hours."

Ruby just nods, happy to not have to worry about walking around, content to simply rest and examine both the man she's now riding on, and also check the scenery out, all from the safety of the surprisingly comfortable shoulder.

"Oh, that reminds me, since it wouldn't be fair for me to constantly refer to you as 'It', and I'm sure you wouldn't appreciate me checking, do you have a gender?" At this, Ruby once again has a dragon-blush, before nodding and looking at him, waiting for him to realize that he needs to actually pose it as a question.

"Oh, right. Well, are you male?" Ruby shakes her head. "So, you're a female dragon?" Ruby nods, before wrapping her head back down, making it clear she doesn't want to talk about that any further. "Well, let's get the pseudo-introductions out of the way. Hi there Red, I'm Halva Stoneheart, Dragonborn, Thane of Whiterun, Companion, Dwemer Expert, Vampire-Hunter, and other various titles. Nice to meet ya!" Halva says, placing a hand out for the dragon to shake, only to remember that she doesn't exactly have hands to shake with.

Making a vaguely greeting-like noise, Ruby simply turns to face him, butting her head gently against his hand, then going back to watching the scenery. After a little while of walking, her head tilts up towards the sky, where a large bird flies by, seemingly without a care in the world. Rustling her own wings, Ruby eagerly thinks about what proper flying must feel like. Sure, she'd flown in a ton of Bullheads before, but there's a difference between flying by bullhead, and being actually free like a bird.

Noticing his new companions attention being drawn to the sky, Halva shrugs, the gesture jostling Ruby, who tilts her head back down to look at him again.

"Hey, don't forget the rules. Once I'm sure you aren't going to go pillaging wagons of food or stealing sheep you can go off flying, but for right now, I'd prefer if you stayed on the ground, or only on short hops, like gliding up to my shoulder. I don't want you flying around like a bird. Plus, if any guards saw you, they might mistake you for a regular dragon, and I'm sure that you don't want to be turned into a pincushion of arrows, do you?"

Shaking her head vigorously, Ruby casts one last glance at the sky, before lowering her head and looking towards the small camp that Halva is approaching. Once they get near, Ruby has her attention drawn towards the woman currently tending the campfire. Seemingly clad in similar armor to her new...owner? Travelling buddy? Ruby decides to settle on simply companion, before returning her attention to the woman, who has a quiver of arrows on her back, a large shield strapped over the top of then, with a sword sheathed at her hip.

A sword, Ruby notes, which is being pulled out of the sheath by a now wide-eyed woman, who regards her with a mix of fear, suspicion, and curiosity.

"Lydia, sword away. This one isn't like other dragons."

"B-but my Thane, I thought all the dragons were-" Before 'Lydia' could say more, Halva raises his hand to stop her, before continuing. "No, just the ones we've met. From the fact that little Red here both had the speed to beat me in a spar, and the fact that she understands speech, it's clear that she doesn't wish us harm, and that she's probably just as confused as we are." Ruby nods along, agreeing silently with everything being said, and preening just a little at the slight praise given to her about her speed.

Then, Ruby notices a little red stone on one of the rings attached to the fingers of the new woman. Nudging Halva, Ruby then looks back between him and Lydia, trying to get him to understand that she wants to go over to her.

"Oh, Lydia. I think Red wants to approach you. Please don't attack her. And yes, she is female."

"B-...As you command, my Thane." Lydia sheaths her weapon, still keeping her hand on the handle, watching while Ruby hops off Halva and makes her way towards Lydia, staring at her hand all the while. Once within touching distance, Ruby looks up at Lydia's face, then back at the hand, before slowly and gently, wary of the few small spikes atop her head, pressing her nose against the ring present on her finger.

Halva, meanwhile, simply stares at Red, who seems to be trying to tell them something, from the way she keeps nudging Lydia's hand, and looking between them expectantly. Suddenly, Lydia lifts her hand up, startling both him and Red, before taking her ring off and presenting it to the dragon, who regards it for a moment before glancing around, as if looking for something.

Lowering her head, Ruby begins dragging her nose through the dirt, realizing that she has a rather irritating but still effective way of communicating in a very basic way, by just digging letters into the ground. She slowly scrapes out dirt, occasionally stopping to raise her head up and shake dirt away from her nose and eyes, forming letters as she goes. After a good few minutes of scraping, she manages to make enough of a dent in the dirt to be vaguely readable as 'name'. After this, she then runs over to a bushel of roses, gently butting her head against them before returning to Lydia and nudging the ring.

After reading the letters, then glancing back at Ruby, who seems to be alternating between pressing her nose against the ring, nudging a bushel of roses, and staring at the two of them. Halva then realizes what Red was trying to tell them.

"Oh, so you're name is Rose Ruby?" Jumping on the spot, Ruby vigorously twists her head, repeating the same motion for so-so, hoping he gets the damned message. "So-so? Oh, so Ruby Rose? '_Finally' _Ruby thinks with a sigh as she nods her head, glad that she could finally tell them her name.

Rubbing his chin, Halva nods. "Well, Ruby Rose, I suspect we're going to get up to some very fun adventures..."

Shaking her head again, Ruby simply trots over to the fire, curling up next to it and enjoying the warmth, while her companions quietly talk away from her. Thinking about Beacon and what could have happened, Ruby can find nothing out of place about the day, nor anything to suggest why she was suddenly both a dragon, and in some new world.

Deciding such philosophical questions aren't worth thinking about until she's nicely settled in, Ruby places her head on her new tail, and drifts back to sleep calmly.


	2. Chapter 2

**Ugh, headaches. And teeth. An- ****Oh, hi everyone! Don't mind me, just griping about tooth pains. Hooray for having a wisdom tooth so broken it feels like a drill is working its way into my jaw! Yay!**

**I'm getting off-track here. Just real life getting in the way of adorableness. So life as usual. Anyways, thanks for the really kind reviews, I'm glad to see people like the idea of Ruby being an adorable baby dragon. Just an FYI, Ruby will probably start being able to talk in chapter 3. Having Ruby converse with just nods and head gestures is quite annoying, and using the dirt-digging technique is a bit of a cheap way to get around that.**

**Plus, some dragons do speak using human words. I mean, look at Paarthurnax, he speaks to the Dovahkiin both in Dragon-tongue and Human-tongue in the same sentence, swapping between them freely and without using magic to augment his speech, making it clear that the vocal cords of dragons are perfectly capable of forming human words.**

**And, once again...**

_**I do not own Skyrim or RWBY. Skyrim is owned by Bethesda, RWBY is owned by Rooster Teeth.**_

_**Chapter 2**_

* * *

_'It's official. This is real. Either this is real, or I'm having the worlds strongest home-work crash ever...' _Ruby thinks to herself, still sat atop Halva's shoulder as they approach the gates of a large town.

"Okay, so Ruby, you remember the rules, yeah?" Halva asks with a raised eyebrow.

Nodding slowly, Ruby's attention is drawn to the men at the gate, who seem to be pretty calm considering a man in armor, a woman also in armor, and a baby dragon are approaching their gates. Filing that under 'questions that are probably going to be answered soon', Ruby simply sits still and watches as the men watch their approach, hands on their weapons but with calm stances. Abruptly, Halva stops, and Ruby twists her head to look at him, only to see he's intently focusing on her, evidently wanting something.

"Okay, well here's a new one. Only under very few circumstances are you to go up to the big keep at the top, you'll know which one when we see it. That's Dragonsreach, which is where the Jarl, so essentially the ruler of these lands, lives. While I'll probably be able to convince them to not immediately start attacking on sight, with the fact that most people see all dragons as murderous reptiles with no regard for any kind of life other than their own, present company excluded, of course, they'll be more liable to attack you than help you. So, stay quiet, stay calm, stay on my shoulder, and let me do the talking. Now, let's hope the guards are level-headed today."

At this, Halva continues walking towards the gate, stopping a good few paces from the guards, who seem to be eyeing Halva with suspicion and reverence, Lydia with indifference and Ruby with a hearty mix of suspicion, fear, anger, awe, and so many other conflicting feelings that Ruby gets a headache from trying to figure them out.

"Well met Dragonborn. Now, I'm sure I don't need to ask, but I'll pose the question anyway. Why is there a baby dragon on your shoulder? Last I recall, you were heading out to the Sleeping Tree Camp to search for a tomb. And now you come back, bearing a dragon on your shoulder. So, please, enlighten us on how this came to be, and also why the side of your face isn't currently being burned off by said dragon?"

Rubbing his chin, Halva begins recalling his story, beginning slightly before breaching the wall. for Ruby's sake just as much as the guard.

"Okay, well, here goes nothing. So, I went to the area of the burial mound, and it was dormant. So, considering the tomb was still sealed, I mixed some Dwarven Oil, Fire Salts, and Histroot together, poured the mixture over the wall of the mound, then set it off, breaching the walls enough to allow entry. Upon opening the tomb-" Halva begins, describing how he and Ruby met, their spar, the rules set and agreed to, the fact that the dragon is called Ruby Rose, and other minor details.

Upon hearing that Ruby can actually understand them, the guard took a wary step forwards. "So, you can actually understand what we're discussing right now, even outside of Dovah-speech?" Ruby nods at the guard, then twists her head at Halva in her so-so motion.

"Hmm? Oh, Dovah-speech is the language of dragons. Before you ask, no I won't teach it to you, for dragons use it to terrible effect. Their words carry great power, like Ice, Force, and some can even slow time itself down. Now, that isn't to say I'll never teach it to you, maybe one day but just like the rule about flight, I want to be able to trust you before I let you off the leash." At the mention of leash, Ruby growls. "What, you don't like being referred to as leashed? Well, sorry to say Red, but referring to you as a pet is gonna be the only way you'll get let into the city. If you were let in akin to a companion like Lydia, imagine the suspicion a free-roaming baby dragon would garner walking through a hold like this."

Grumbling some more, Ruby curls back on herself, head pointedly facing away from the guard, prompting the man to chuckle slightly. "Well, I'm afraid the Dragonborn is right little Red. Now, I can clearly see that despite being pretty much perfectly positioned to simply attack the Dragonborn, which any other dragon would happily take advantage of, you don't harbor any ill will towards him, otherwise you'd have used the opportunity to kill him already and flee. While Lydia is fast, she wouldn't be able to keep up with a dragon, even if said dragon is your size. But, just because I believe it, what's to say every guard in the hold will be quite so open-minded about you? The safest thing for them to do would be to stick an arrow or ten in you, just to ensure the hold remains safe from dragons. They, of course, wouldn't do it if it's made clear that the Dragonborn has tamed you, but it'd be odd for a tamed pet to be walking around a town alone."

"So, there you have it Ruby. To be honest with you, I don't see you as a pet." At this, Ruby turns her head back around, looking over Halva's face for any sign of a lie. "I mean, you're intelligent, you can understand what we're saying, you clearly don't harbor much ill will towards humans in general either, otherwise you'd have attacked me and Lydia for threatening you, and you're at least trying to be as non-imposing as you can be. If I saw you as a pet, it'd be the same as me calling Lydia a pet. But what I see you as and what I need other people to think are two different things, so how about a compromise." Ruby nods and Halva rubs his chin for a moment before continuing.

"Outside of my home, you have to act at least somewhat like a pet. Now, you don't have to do anything silly like tricks or anything, but staying on my shoulder and only getting off under certain circumstances is the kind of thing you'll have to do. Then again, considering how much you like sitting on my shoulder, that shouldn't be a problem for you. But when we're inside my home and there aren't visitors, you act however you want, within reason of course. You can even practice flying about if you so wish, as long as you don't start knocking stuff off walls."

Ruby thinks for a moment, before nodding her head slowly, then yawning and making a noise in her throat sounding vaguely like a hum. Curling up on Halva's shoulder, Ruby then realizes something rather important. Nudging Halva on the cheek, Ruby then noses towards the ground, then back at Halva, prompting him to take a knee and let her hop off without having to use her wings.

Trotting over to some exposed dirt, Ruby begins digging in the dirt again, while Halva simply stands back talking with the guard, keeping an eye on her, but also allowing her space to write apparently a full sentence in the dirt.

After a good while of sneeze-filled digging, Ruby gazes over her work, before nodding and wandering back over to Halva, before butting his shin and walking towards her writing. Halva wraps up whatever he was discussing and walks over, raising an eyebrow at the sentence Ruby had written.

"Y'know Ruby, I think you might be onto something there. While most dragons can talk some limited human words, most don't bother, they just use dovah-speech. Considering you already know our language, if you tried hard enough, you'd probably be able to talk like normal after a while. I mean, try saying something."

Ruby tries, but only succeeds in making an odd croaking sound. Again and again Ruby tries to say something, but all she achieves is various levels of croaking. After a while of repeatedly trying to say hello, Ruby growls and smacks her wing against the ground in frustration, causing Halva to laugh, only to stop when Ruby glares at him.

"Hmm. I guess you'll just have to keep trying. Think of it like...like a human child learning to talk for the first time. After a while, they'll be good enough to say things like second nature, but since you haven't been trying to talk to people much, your voice simply isn't ready for it. Since your voice is meant to be spoken as dovah-speech it'll be a lot harder than it would be for a human child, but I reckon the same principle applies. So, just keep trying and you'll get it eventually. And once you've done that, you won't have to dig your nose in the ground again!"

Ruby perks up at this, hopping up onto Halva's shoulder and nestling in again, tail wrapped under his armpit and talons slightly digging into the leather for grip. While not exactly the latest and greatest in comfortable travel, Ruby had to admit that it goes a long way, both for saving her energy, and looking pretty un-intimidating at the same time.

"Oh, and Ruby, could you move your wing, it's kind of scratching me a bit," Halva says, prompting a squeak from Ruby and a hastily folded wing. "Thanks."

* * *

Approaching the gates, they slowly swing wide open, and with a nod to the guard, Halva steps into the city, allowing Ruby a full view of the buildings, and laughing when he notes the fact that her jaw has quite literally dropped.

"Welcome to Whiterun!" Halva says with a flourish.

Practically breaking her neck in her attempts to lean closer, Ruby can't help but let out a squeak of awe at what she's now seeing. Ignoring all the now-gawking citizens, Ruby has her attention drawn to one majestic, and breathtakingly beautiful sight to her sore eyes. There, practically right next to the gate, is a workshop! Certainly not to Beacon, or even Remnant for that matter, standards, but it's still just so beautiful. And, more surprisingly to Ruby considering the fact that the world is clearly in some stage of the medieval era, there's a female blacksmith working the forge. Now, Ruby wasn't the best at history, but even she knew that in medieval times, the only females that were ever considered to be allowed to work a forge were those with unlocked aura. So either this woman is exceptional in some way, or the world is far more open-minded than Remnant was.

Of course, Remnant got over that little hiccup when dust was introduced to forging, meaning that you didn't have to be strong to work a bellows, as the dust would provide the heat rather than regular fire, but it was still a unique sight to see. Unfortunately, Ruby then remembered the rules about shoulders and not leaving them, and simply settled for nudging Halva in the cheek constantly until he paid attention to her.

"What, Ruby? We kind of have to go see the Jarl, and yes, that means you need to be on your best behaviour, since I'd like to have you at least be allowed in the town. Don't get me wrong, the Jarl is a good man, but if he thinks you're a threat to his hold, he'll have no qualms ordering his men to hunt you down. Now, why are you still nudging me?"

Ruby tilts her head, then gestures with her head at the forge repeatedly, drawing the mans attention to the workshop. "Oh, that's Adrianne Avenicci's forge. She's the daughter of the steward of Whiterun, and a damn good blacksmith as well. I mean, not as good as Eorlund Grey-Mane, but, in my honest opinion, there is no better blacksmith in all of Skyrim that could beat Eorlund in forging." At Ruby's insistent headbutting, Halva continues. "What, you want to go over to the forge?" Ruby stops headbutting him and nods. "Well, we have to see the Jarl immediately, since I don't know if you noticed, but practically everybody in town is staring at you, and a few seem half-ready to draw their weapons. After that, It'd be best to stay in either Breezehome or Jorrvaskr. But, if you really want to visit a Blacksmith, I'm sure Eorlund would appreciate the company."

Ruby simply growls softly, then casts one last sad look at the blacksmith, who is now staring back in equal mention apprehension and surprise. Ruby tilts her head at the blacksmith, then nods at her, garnering a small smile and a nod back.

Happy to have made at least one good impression, Ruby then glances around at the people of the town, noting that, just as Halva said, pretty much every set of eyes that she could see were on her, and a few hidden eyes were probably on her as well. But, before Ruby could get any further in her inspections, her eyes are drawn to a small group of figures who, if she didn't know better, looked like Faunus, but if the Faunus were far closer to their animal counterparts.

Their heads were all feline in nature, with ears similar to Blake, but where Blake still looked human, these people looked far more like cats. Fur covered their faces, with whiskers and cat-like noses. One of them had rings lining her ears, while another had a large mane of hair, not too unlike Yang. All of them carried weaponry, though only the female with rings in her ears had a large weapon, the others carrying simple daggers, with satchels strapped to their backs.

However, what truly informed Ruby that they weren't simply bizarre Faunus was the tails that hung from each of these, for lack of a better word, cat-people. All of them had ears, tails, and fur, which is impossible for a Faunus to have. All Faunus, no matter who they are, only have a single feature tying them to their animal counterpart. Blake and Velvet have their ears, Sun has his tail, and, while she'd never met him, apparently Headmaster Lionheart had a tail. The point being that no Faunus has ever had more than one animal trait, meaning either they were mutant Faunus, meant in the kindest way of course, or they were some kind of new race.

Of course, the second option was immediately hammered home when what Ruby could only call a lizard came around from behind the cat-people and joined the crowd in inspecting her. Scales adorned his head, and bone-spikes protruded out of his crest. Though, apparently, Halva seemed to have had enough of the mutual staring contest happening between Ruby and the other inhabitants of the town. With a one-armed shrug to jostle Ruby out of her stare, Halva then addressed the crowd.

"Hello everyone! Now, I'm sure the Jarl would appreciate it if he could be the one giving the big announcement, but considering I doubt we'd make it through town without being stared at like...like a chicken in a Dwemer ruin, I'll get this out of the way now. This-" Halva gestures at Ruby, who ducks her head slightly. "-Is Ruby. She's a baby dragon, I found her in a sealed Dragon Tomb, and after working out some kinks, she agreed to join me. Now, I would appreciate it if you could all just act at least somewhat naturally around her, since I'm sure she's already rather skittish at being in the middle of a town where half the people look terrified, and half look as though they've just seen what they want their next coat to be made out of."

With that, Ruby then turns to face him, jaw dropped in shock, before glancing back around, then curling up on herself to hide her face. The citizens of Whiterun then look amongst themselves, before a single Guard takes it upon himself to pose the question on everybody present's mind.

"OK, but how do we know 'It' isn't going to just go berserk when we let our guards down and burn the whole hold down? Why should we trust it to not attack us all when all it's been doing is sitting there looking sorry for itself?"

Before Ruby could even get angry at the man, Halva steps in his direction, levelling a particularly strong glare at the man in the same second, causing the man to take a step back. "Because I said so. As I'm sure you're all aware, I've slain quite a few fully grown dragons in my time. If she did try to attack anybody in hostility, I'm pretty confident I'd be able to handle her. Also, she's more intelligent than you think, considering she heard every word you said, and she knows what you meant when you continued calling 'Her' IT!" The guard then looks at Ruby, who smugly nods, baring her teeth slightly. "If anything, you should be happy she's in control of herself enough to not run over and attack you for repeatedly insulting her. I know a few people in this town would attack you for less than that."

"Now!" Halva shouts loudly, drawing everybody's attention back to him and away from Ruby and the guard. "I'm heading up to Dragonsreach to speak with the Jarl. I'm sure he'll tell you all about what happens up there. Ruby is going to be staying in Breezehome, so I wouldn't recommend any of you get any ideas about trying to take her or hurt her. Now, if you see her alone somewhere that isn't Jorrvaskr or Breezehome, and I'm not nearby, I'd recommend you find me, since I've already told her" Halva pointedly then looks at Ruby, "That unless she's on my shoulder, she's not to go anywhere I don't let her go."

Ruby manages, despite her lack of human features, to look a bit sheepish at this, nodding to him then looking around at the crowd, who seem to be watching with a mix of amusement and awe at this little red dragon being warned about not going anywhere, almost akin to a parent laying down rules for a child.

With that, Halva continues his walk, and, surprisingly quickly, the crowd disperses. Noticing Ruby's surprise at just how quickly the crowd went back to what they were doing, Halva only chuckles, before jolting his shoulder, getting her attention.

"You don't actually know what's going on right now, huh? Well, about 2 months ago was the first time on thousands of years that dragons had ever been seen. An Imperial fortress down south was attacked by a massive black dragon, and even since then, dragons have been crawling out of burial mounds just like where I found you and attacking people. A few aren't actually that bad. I heard that apparently one dragon actually ended up setting a toll on a region of Winterhold, then went on to keep it clear of bandits and monsters for the travellers who pay the toll. Others, though, just attack indiscriminately."

"Of course, learning this was a big shock, but the people had to simply try to adjust to it. Life isn't easy, and if they let the threat of the dragons overwhelm them, then they'd all die, so they simply push it away and focus on living. And that's what I hope they'll do for you as well. They've seen that you understand them, that, even after being called 'It'" Both Halva and Ruby grimace at the use of the word, "You didn't simply leap from my shoulder to attack the guard, as many probably expected of a dragon. And of course, it'll help that you're riding on the shoulder of the only person in Skyrim who can permanently kill a dragon."

Ruby then looks at him and cocks her head to the side, prompting an explanation about the nature of dragon souls and how, because he is Dragonborn, he can 'steal' their souls and permanently put the dragons down.

"Oh, but don't worry though!" Halva swiftly says when Ruby looks away from him and slightly edges away from his face. "I won't do it to you, nor any dragons which aren't being menaces to normal people. I mean, take the toll-dragon, I ran into him once, and after talking with him and paying his 'toll', he let me go, but not before telling me about how he really is being helpful, and to think of him as a good bandit. I mean, bandits who demand tolls practically never do anything to actually patrol and protect people from hostile animals and murdering bandits, whereas he actually dealt with threats. Plus, if people can't pay his toll, rather than kill them as a bandit would, he simply smells them to remember them, and requests that they bring twice the toll amount next time. So, all in all, an actually good dragon."

"And before you ask, you're pretty much the same in my book. Well, better, considering all you've done so far is sit on my shoulder, whereas he is still demanding gold from people. But he's also doing what most guards simply can't, due to how cold Winterhold is. Making frequent patrols is all but impossible for the guards, they'd freeze to death, and that's if the frost trolls didn't get them first. Now, I'm getting off track, so I'll make this brief. Whatever you do, do NOT, under any circumstance other than me, or the Jarl himself, giving you an explicit order, let go of my shoulder. If the guards, or worse, the Jarls personal Housecarl, think you to be a threat to the Jarl, they won't hesitate to fill you with arrows. So, as long as you're on my shoulder, they'll feel at least moderately safe in the knowledge that with a single dagger, I could put you down permanently, and I'd rather avoid that."

With that all said and done, Halva then makes his way up a set of stone stairs, before waving his hand towards an upside-down boat to his right, evidently some kind of re-purposed old ship that was made into a barn or longhouse.

"That is Jorrvaskr, home of the Companions, one of the two places you'll be staying. If you aren't there, you'll be in Breezehome or with me. Breezehome is back down in the plains district, it's a nice place, good proximity to the market, tavern, gates, blacksmith, and pretty much anything else you'd want. The only problem is the size. I mean, I appreciate all the gifts I receive, but I can only take so many Blades of Biting Frost or Shields of Might before I've filled Skyrim with junk. Word of warning, unless you like sharp objects, don't go into the room under the stairs. I had to turn it into an impromptu weapon and armor room and...well...let's just say it ended up being more akin to a stockpile of weapons and armor than something neat and orderly like a nice Imperial armory. I mean, I'd like it to be neat and tidy, but when you have that many weapons, you run out of places to neatly place them! I swear if I receive one more Staff of Infernal Suffering I'm going to throw it out the nearest window!"

By the time Halva was done with his little tirade about weapons or something, Ruby and Halva had found their way up to the main doors of Dragonsreach, only a few steps from meeting someone who was apparently the 'Jarl' of this place. Thinking on it, Ruby resolved to make her best first impression...before then shaking her head when she remembered that, considering she couldn't actually speak to him properly, all she had to do was nod along occasionally and look both un-intimidating, yet strong enough to actually be worth the effort of looking after. If she appeared weak to the Jarl, maybe Halva would question why he even bothered with her, and she didn't want to go back into that tomb. Or any tombs for that matter. In fact, staying above ground seemed to be the best idea.

Then, without much warning at all, Halva strode forward, pushing both doors solidly opening, and forcing Ruby to break from her thoughts about dingy and dark dungeons and focus on the figure sat atop his throne, then glancing around the room, before her jaw, for quite possibly the third time in one day, dropped to her mounts shoulder. in shock.


	3. Chapter 3

**Hello, all you wonderful people! Glad to hear you are all enjoying the story and a special thanks to one of you (you know who you are you beautiful person!) for giving me an absolutely exquisite idea for this story, which will find it's way in somewhere along the line, not sure where, but just know it'll happen! Also, Crimson Dovah chapters will likely be longer in general than Watching Rose, simply as I find it far easier to write. Rest assured, they'll both come out regularly, just expect these chapters to have more substance.**

**I'll keep this part brief and let you all get on with reading the story! I have a P(a)treon now, not that I really expect anything from it. If any of you are able to sling a few pennies my way, I'd greatly appreciate it, and while I don't exactly have anything to offer you, I do have a discord server that I and my close friends use, which I'd be more than willing to use as some kind of donation reward if you wanted it.**

**And, without further ado...**

_**Chapter 3**_

* * *

"Ahh, Dragonbo-"

Balgruuf began loudly, before taking in what was happening in front of him. The man who just entered was definitely Halva Stoneheart, Thane of his mighty Hold, Dragonborn, and however many other titles the prodigy of a man had surely gathered in the time since he'd last been seen in Dragonsreach. However, aside from that, the similarities ended there, for the man in front of him had a dragon perched on his shoulder.

Certainly, his eyes weren't deceiving him, nor was that little red dragon some kind of statue or intricate ornamentation, not that the man entering his hall would wear such a frivolous thing, especially on what appeared to be his normal armor. It appeared to be, for all intents and purposes, to be a living, breathing, potentially very dangerous dragon. And it also appeared to be the case that, despite knowing how dangerous dragons are, apparently the Dragonborn trusted this one enough to allow it to ride atop his shoulder.

Before he could get another word in, to ask for explanation or call for guards to stand ready, the dragon suddenly shifted, jumping off the man's shoulders, much to his protest, yelling something about rules, though his words seemed to be meaningless to the small dragon, which was slowly making its way towards one of the many pieces of armor and weaponry adorning the walls of the Great Hall, ignoring both the now resigned yelling of the Dragonborn, and the guards stationed around the room, many of whom now held their weaponry, ready to defend him with their lives.

Cutting off his yelling, Halva turned sharply towards the Jarl, making his way over to speak with him directly, rather than yell it across the Hall. Throwing a glance over his shoulder at the dragon, Halva then shrugged his shoulders and shook his head, turning back around the meet the Jarls gaze with a sheepish smile and a tired gaze.

"Jarl Balgruuf! It's been too long." The Dragonborn greets the Jarl warmly, almost seeming to attempt avoiding the quite literal dragon on the Hall.

"Halva." The Jarls response being curt, the message clear.

"Well, I guess no time for pleasantries. That-" Halva says, with a thumb pointed over his shoulder in the vague direction of the mesmerized dragon. "-is Ruby Rose. I found her in the dragon tomb over near the Sleeping Tree Camp. Now, before I regale you on tales of how I found her, let me make one thing clear. She has promised me that she wouldn't attack anybody without either doing it in self-defence or being expressly told. Now, I also told her to stay on my shoulder no matter what, and only get off if either I or you told her to, in no uncertain terms."

"Wait, hold on Halva, she understood you? I know you spoke with the Greybeards, but I doubt they had time to teach you casual speech in Dovah."

Shaking his head, Halva glances back towards the dragon, Ruby apparently, again before continuing. "She doesn't actually know Dovah-speech. Or if she does, she hasn't used it a single time since I met her. But she understands human-speech just fine. She can't talk, unfortunately, and has had to settle for simply digging words in the ground with her nose, but I'm hoping that since Paarthurnax spoke with me in our own tongue, she will eventually be able to learn how to actually speak, just like you or me. Now, I don't know why she can understand us, yet can't talk, nor why she can't even speak the language of dragons. I'm also curious to learn why she was in that tomb, but these are all questions that will simply be too inconvenient for her to answer now, and as such, I put off learning them until she can speak with us normally."

Scratching his beard, Balgruuf gazed long and hard, both at the Dragonborn, as well as this new addition to his adventures, trying to wrap his head around the idea of a dragon that could actually be civil, especially in this hold, a hold to whom should be to her as a torture chamber is to a prisoner. Certainly, the Dragonborn had told him a tale about how there was a dragon atop the Throat of the World, one who seemed to be remarkably civil with him during his time up there, but to meet a civil dragon, it was easily the strangest experience the old Jarl had ever had. Even in the mostly-wooden hold which was designed with the express intent of capturing and killing dragons, she appeared to be far more interested in a singular, and rather ancient, chestpiece attached to the wall.

Detached from the Jarl and Halva's discussions about her, Ruby could only stare in shock at what she was looking at on the wall, and, despite not attempting it in the slightest, managed to accidentally, and much to the shock of everybody present, squeak out one quiet, but still audible, word.

"Jaune?"

* * *

_'It can't be. How is that armor here? It can't be a coincidence, the chances of armor like that both having that crest and being shaped the exact same way is practically impossible! But if it isn't a coincidence, does that mean Jaune is here? Maybe I could find him? But what if he doesn't believe me? Or thinks I just used magic on him to trick him? What if he attacks me for being a dragon before I could even try to explain who I am? Or-or if the armor really is just a coincidence and I try to hunt him down, only to find some random blacksmith who just had a random idea?! And why would Jaune be here anyway? I mean, I have the same question for me, but it still makes no sense! What do I-'_

Cutting off Ruby in her break-down, Halva leans down in front of her, and when he received no response, settled for waving a hand in her face, finally breaking Ruby from her thoughts, who looked up to see the confused expressions worn by everybody in the room, matching her own. Or at least, whatever a confused expression could be on the face of a tiny dragon.

"Ruby, did you just speak?" Halva asked, his eyebrow cocked in surprise.

Thinking frantically back on what happened, Ruby realized that, in her panic, she managed to, through no real effort on her own, instinctively use her vocal cords without thinking about it, and said Jaune's name. The thought alone made Ruby both panicked and excited at the same time. She felt panic about the idea that Halva might have thought she was lying to him about her voice, but she also felt excited, incredibly so, at the thought of being able to actually talk again. While she could get by with nods and vague head-gestures, she didn't want to have to dig her nose into the ground every single time somebody needed a bigger explanation. Plus, the last conversation she'd had with someone where she could talk back was with Weiss, and that was ages ago. Well, in retrospect it wasn't more than 24 hours ago, but still!

Mustering her courage, Ruby again attempts to speak, and after a few failed attempts, managed to squeak out a hesitant "Maybe." much to both her and Halva's surprise. Ruby wasn't thinking about what she sounded like when she was too focused on Jaune's chestpiece and didn't realize how her voice was identical to her normal voice. Halva of course was surprised at just how childlike the dragon in front of him sounded, though he almost immediately mentally slapped himself for not realizing that a baby dragon had every right to sound childlike, considering how she was a child in the eyes of a dragon.

"Huh, well that's a welcome surprise. Now, I know that considering it was a strong enough shock to get you to finally be able to speak, whatever that chestpiece is to you, it's damned important. Despite that, do you remember the one explicit rule I gave you for us coming in here?"

Ruby meekly nodded, looking up at him with tearful eyes. Halva, however, wasn't letting her off easy. "Ah-no-no-no. No. You can actually talk to me now, even if only just, but that means you don't get to just nod or shake your head anymore. Now, yes or no, do you remember the rule?"

With a shaky breath, Ruby gazes back down at the floor, croaking out a measly "Yes."

"Okay, glad to see you didn't lose your memory along with your position. Now, I'm fairly sure I made it clear that you were not to leave my shoulder, under literally any circumstance that wasn't already allowed by me or the Jarl. And, as I said, I understand that the chestpiece over there must be damned important, but that's no excuse. Now, I'm sure that we'd both appreciate not getting shot full of arrows or stabbed with a dozen swords, so here's what's going to happen. You are going to climb back onto my shoulder, and you aren't to let go until we are back in Breezehome or out of the city. And, now that you can talk, I expect answers from you, but those can wait until I properly introduce you, and, now that you can talk, you can even make the introductions yourself."

At that Halva kneels down, but not before quickly adding "Oh, and no using your wings to get to my shoulder, I said climb, and I damn well mean climb. The guards here are already spooked by you, no need to make them more so.", then lowering his shoulder and stretching his arm towards Ruby, allowing her to carefully climb up the length of his arm, before cautiously stepping onto his shoulder, wary to not let her claws land anywhere not protected by the leather or metal on his shoulder, finally coming to a stop and settling down at the apex of her short climb, claws carefully tucked away and tail wrapped around Halva's arm for stability, neck curled around herself to keep her head gently atop her body, appearing similar to a spiky red birds nest resting on the large pauldron.

Standing back up, Halva makes one last check of Ruby to ensure she's securely on his shoulder, and not about to abruptly leap off again to go gawk at some old suit of armor, with the unintended side-effect of making every single guard draw their swords or bows. As he'd already made clear, he knew that the chestpiece had some kind of very significant history with the dragon, disproving the idea that she'd only been born, trained to understand speech, then locked away, and that meant the list of ideas that Halva had for her being in that tomb dwindled down to absolutely none. Meaning Ruby would have some explaining to do after this about just how she came to be in that tomb, why she can understand what he says, why she couldn't (or more worryingly simply refused to) talk to him before now, and just what that old armor had to do with her.

Before he could get further into the list of questions he'd need to ask little Red later, the Jarl clapped his hands together, drawing the attention of everybody in the hall in a simple and efficient manner, clearing his throat and addressing the people assembled.

"Well, our friend the Dragonborn vouches for this...Ruby Rose...yes?" Balgruuf said, a pointed look at the man in question, who simply nods, allowing the Jarl to continue. "Well, if the dragon is a friend of Halva Stoneheart then I'm sure she can be a friend to our hold! Now, we all must have many questions, but never let it be said that the hospitality of Whiterun is not extended to all who deserve it! Now, Ruby Rose, I trust you understand how significant it is to be granted the hospitality of an esteemed hold such as this, and I hope you do not attempt to betray this hospitality when our backs are turned, yes?"

At this, Ruby nods frantically, before gently hitting herself with a wing and letting out a slightly more confident response. "Y-Yes Jarl Balgruuf.", once again surprising most in the hall, both with the simple words of a dragon, but more notably the childlike voice, one coming from a beast many legends made out to be ferocious and warriors without equal.

"Well then, Ruby Rose, you shall be welcome in this hold, and let it be known throughout all 9 holds of Skyrim that Ruby Rose is an esteemed guest of our hold and should be treated thusly, both in my hold, and the other 8 great holds of this land!" Balgruuf yells with a loud cheer, rousing the hall into a simultaneous cheer, making the normally introverted Ruby curl in, both in minor fear, but a rather large helping of sheer embarrassment at the thought of her name being spoken about across 'Skyrim'.

While she wasn't sure exactly how big it was, considering she'd been told that the tomb she'd been found in was inside of Whiterun land, and she spent at least a few hours travelling with Halva before arriving in what she presumed to be roughly the centre of Whiterun, she guessed that Skyrim as a whole must have been at least the size of Sanus, maybe even more so.

"Now, Halva, I'm sure you must be exhausted, and assuredly your friend is similarly exhausted, if not physically then mentally at apparently seeing something from her past, yes?" The Jarl glances between Ruby and the chestpiece, garnering a quick nod from the little dragon, swiftly continuing. "Then you should head home and get some rest. I assure you that it was well looked after in your absence, and I am told Proventus made your requested changes, though at this moment it would appear that your decision to change your spare room to an Alchemy lab is one you'll regret now, considering you now have two companions to share your home with." The Jarl loudly proclaims, getting a burst of raucous laughter from his assembled guards and fellows, whilst Ruby simply looks around confused and Halva runs the back of his neck sheepishly.

"Now, go forth Dragonborn, and don't forget your promise to Dagny. She won't forget, so if you end up forgetting it she won't forgive you!" The Jarl yells at their backs, with Halva already making his way out, laughter ringing in his ears, taking care to avoid the assembled guards, who step aside, both in reverence of his position as both Thane of Whiterun and Dragonborn, and mild fearful awe at the dragon sat astride his shoulder.

Halva wasted no time getting a good distance from the doors, pointedly ignoring the guards stationed there, who seemed to be holding in their own laughter, evidently having heard enough of the conversation to garner some humour from it, especially the idea of the mighty Dragonborn being afraid of forgetting a promise made to a little girl. Of course, said little girl being one of the children of a Jarl probably had some small part to play in that, but not enough to stop the guards from stifling laughter at his expense.

With nary a word to anybody, Halva quickly made his way towards Breezehome, ignoring the pointed stares being directed his way, silently thankful that for once, it wasn't that everybody was staring at him, due to his position as Dragonborn and Thane, but instead was the fact that he had such a rare and dangerous creature sat on his shoulder. Of course, all the staring wasn't helping Ruby, who seemed to be doing her best impression of a turtle, hiding her head under her wings and trying to ignore all the looks people gave her, a mixed bag of fear, suspicion, awe, and indifference, the last one confusing Ruby momentarily, but not enough to remember when suddenly, without warning, Halva turned towards a house, subtly pulling a key from his pocket and unlocking the door. Entering the house, all Ruby had time to think before the door closed and she had to get settled into her new home were a few words.

_'Well, this is cozy.'_

* * *

**And that's chapter 3 wrapped up. I know I said Ruby would learn some words, and I feel like I balanced it neatly enough that while her suddenly talking is still a bit abrupt, the hesitance and one-word answers she gives more than makes up for it. Think of it kind of like a muscle maybe. Or perhaps a machine. Once you can use it, doing so again is rather easy, but the trick is in trying to learn it the first time.**

**Anyway, hope you enjoyed!**


	4. Chapter 4

**Hello everyone! Not much to say today, so I'll just throw this out there for anybody interested. Insurgency: Sandstorm is having a free weekend, and it starts today at 6PM BST. So, here's to hoping I see a few of you on there! Keep an eye out for FireFlux, and if you happen to stumble across me, feel free to say hi!**

**Well, on with the story...**

_**Chapter 4**_

* * *

"A week. A whole week since Ruby went into our dorm and somehow disappeared. Nobody saw her leave, and nobody has seen her. What's really strange is she didn't even take Crescent Rose with her!"

With a yell, Yang slumped back down on her desk, visibly exhausted from the week of searching. And her team-mates were no better. All 3 girls of RWBY currently present had dark rings around their eyes, with bags and stress lines galore.

"We know Yang, but, the fact still remains that not a single person saw her leave, yet even though we turned Beacon upside down to hunt for her, she's either better at hiding than Blake, which I seriously doubt, or she managed to leave the school in a way that nobody could tell. Her semblance is out, there would be a trail for people to notice. But, she must have had help, since again, Ruby is stealthy sometimes, but nowhere near Blakes level, which is what she'd need to slip out unnoticed by both the students and faculty, but also all the cameras around campus."

Nodding along with Weiss, Blake casts a glance at Ruby's bunk, still haphazardly dangling above Weiss's bed, before returning her focus to her team leaders weapon. Ruby would never leave campus without Crescent Rose unless she absolutely had to, leaving very few explanations, the most worrying being that Ruby was forced away from Beacon against her will, leaving her sweetheart behind. Of course, there were other explanations, but the fact that 7 whole days had gone by with not so much as a whisper of a hint as to where the young girl had found herself was taking its toll on the girls.

"Look, Yang, I'm sure that, wherever Ruby is, she's trying her hardest at...whatever she's up to. And you can be damn sure that when she gets back, after you get through with your inevitable hugging, she won't be able to even think of leaving like that again under the mountain of homework and catch-up work she has to get through!" Weiss says with a lopsided smile, trying to bring Yang's spirits back up.

Looking out the window, only Blake caught the whispered words Yang murmured to herself.

"I just hope she's okay..."

* * *

"RUBY!"

Flinching drastically from the sudden yell, Ruby spins on the spot, quickly scarpering up the staircase and away from her assailant.

"You get back here right now Little Red, or so help me I'll tell Eorlund to refuse to work with you!" Halva yells after her, refusing to even bother trying to follow her up the stairs, memories of the several times he tried to chase her flashing to mind, of Ruby leading him on a wild goose chase all over Breezehome trying to catch her for one thing or another.

"You wouldn't. Eo-Eorlund likes me. He'd listen to me over you! Anyway, he needs me! Otherw-Else he'd not finish the new equipment in time! Or ever!" Ruby yells back, still trying to get used to her new vocal cords. Still, she couldn't complain, being able to at least form most sentences was a far cry above having to communicate in writing and head gestures, even if she does have to take a few attempts at certain words, or in some cases just avoid the word entirely. "Anyway, you want a proper harn-har-...a proper arm mount for me to sit on anyway!"

With a frustrated sigh, Halva sat down heavily on the nearby chair, leaving Ruby to perch atop the staircase, still poised to move but at the same time comfortable. "Just because it'd be convenient for me, considering the distinct lack of things I can use to threaten you, I'll take whatever I can damn well get. Plus, the 'Harness'" Halva says with a smirk towards a frustrated Ruby, "won't be done for a while, and it's not like Halva needs your help for it, it'd just make it easier. Anyway, I'm getting off topic. Come here."

Halva pats the cushion next to him, raising an eyebrow when Ruby actually listened to his request, considering with his entrance he expected her to be a little more cautious in approaching him. After plodding down the steps and sauntering over to the chair, Ruby hops up, curling on the cushion and resting her head on her tail, pointedly staring at Halva for an explanation.

"Ok, so you remember rule number 2? The whole 'don't sneak off unless I tell you to do something' rule?" Ruby nods, with a curious expression on her face, confusing Halva, who expected her to look at the very least nervous or sheepish. "Well, a little birdy told me you were seen in the market." At this, Ruby's face morphs into the dragon form of a pout, causing Halva to let a light chuckle slip from his lips, before pressing them back together.

"But I was bored, and not sneaking. You said no sneaking off, but I told Ly-Lydia that I was going to the market, and she let me! I thought it'd be alright since she knew where I was, and you even said people ignore things fast, they have to so they can survive." Ruby then paused to take a breath, and at the same time take a closer look at the expressions dancing across Halvas face. A mixture of frustration, anger, sympathy and other emotions were present, though apparently not mixed enough for Ruby to avoid the inevitable rant that was coming.

However, it never came. Looking at Halva, all Ruby could see was a resigned man, one who knows what he has to do but hates it regardless. "Ruby, you seem to have forgotten that these people, while they might ignore some things, when something that, to all intents and purposes, is a miniature version of the creatures currently terrorizing their lands, walks through the middle of a public market, I imagine at least a few would harbour thoughts of getting some revenge. Sure, you have had nothing to do with it, but that doesn't matter. Revenge does horrifying things sometimes. I've seen it turn a friendly innkeeper who welcomed all with open arms into a monster of a man, lashing out at anybody who even tried to talk to him, until he then struck out at somebody, and killed them. Then, the age-old rule of violence begets violence came into play and someone who knew the person he killed then killed him in revenge. Do you want to know what started that cycle?"

At this, Ruby decided to take a page out of her own book and stay quiet, only nodding gently for Halva to continue the story, already pretty sure about where it was going.

"It was a dragon. A dragon attacked a caravan near the Innkeepers town, and his daughter was one of the people killed in the attack. Thus, the cycle of violence started, and since the Innkeeper had no way to get his revenge on the dragon, he just lashed out. After killing someone, he then got killed, and the cycle ended since the man didn't have anybody who would lash out in revenge for his death."

Placing a hand on Ruby's back, Halva then took a deep breath, apparently reliving some past memory before continuing. "Now, I know that Breezehome might be boring, but just think about the people out there in that market. Then think about that Innkeeper. People dying to dragon attacks is rather common now, and chances are at least a few of the inhabitants of Whiterun have lost family and friends to dragons. They can't get revenge on those dragons, but what's to stop them trying to take you and get some revenge of their own, hmm? Violence begets violence, and even those not involved in the violence get dragged into it somehow. And I'm sure you'd like to avoid anything like that. Now, I'm confident you'd be able to run away or fight back, but running away will only encourage them to hunt you down, and fighting back will get you nowhere either. The safest thing to do is stay on my shoulder, inside Jorrvaskr and Breezehome, and occasionally up at Dragonsreach. Can you do that for me?"

Ruby nods, then as a show of solidarity, decides to stop being silent and actually speak. "I will H-Halva. I hate it, I want to run around and explore, but I'll try to stay inside. Anyway, when Eorlund finishes that arm mount I'll be more comfortable upon your shoulder than anywhere else anyway!" Ruby said with a fang-filled smile, trying her hardest to turn it from a grimace into, at the very least, a vaguely non-threatening smile.

"I know you will Ruby." Halva replied, rubbing her head, careful to avoid the small spikes atop her head. "And hey, maybe in a while we'll be able to head back out, my business in town will hopefully be over and then we can hit the road. Trust me, you may hate being cooped up now, but try being stuck in Dragonsreach all day discussing politics and military strategy with a Jarl. Then you'll be begging me to let you return to Breezehome. At least in here, it's nice and comfy, whereas up there you'd have to spend all day standing around a table looking serious. It's hell!"

Halva finishes his rant, smiling to himself at the full-blown laughter now coming from Ruby. Thinking back, Halva considers the idea of taking her up the High Hrothgar. Surely the Greybeards would know what to do with her. Maybe even see if they'd let her up the Throat of the World to speak with Paarthurnax, he seemed like a good enough dragon to trust with teaching Ruby. But, at the same time, Ruby would probably go nuts from being stuck in a temple at the top of a mountain with nothing to do, being taught by crusty academic-types who would frown deeply at her hands-on approach to stuff.

Shrugging his shoulders, Halva allowed his attention to wander back to the subject of such thoughts. If somebody told him a year ago that he'd become the Dragonborn he'd have laughed in their face. Then, if two weeks ago somebody told him he'd find a baby dragon and basically adopt her, he'd think they were insane. Yet both things happened. Now all that needs to happen is for an Oblivion Gate to spawn in front of him and he'd have the hat trick of insanity.

Thinking about it, Halva contemplates whether or not all of this was worth it. Would he rather have simply escaped Helgen and fled to Hammerfall or Elsweyr? And, glancing back at Ruby, he shakes his head to himself. Damn the world for forcing this upon him, but he wouldn't change it for anything. Well, maybe he'd make it easier, and not require him to stop Alduin or else the world would be eaten, but nothing else.

* * *

After the slightly terrifying story by Halva and a solid reminder to stay on his shoulder, the duo made their way over to the Skyforge, passing a few vaguely recognised faces with smiles and waves from Halva, and a few vague hellos and other muttered greetings from Ruby. While Halva told her to be at least a little friendly with people, the idea of people comparing her to a bunch of murdering dragons is like comparing all huntsman and huntresses to a few criminal dropout hunters like Torchwick. As such Ruby simply let Halva handle looking friendly since all she wanted to do at that moment was curl up into a ball and hide behind her wings.

Her wings. Huh. Every time Ruby thought about it, she was still surprised at just how quickly she got used to her new body. Sure, the first time she woke up in Breezehome she ended up tearing her way around the room in a panic before remembering where she was, but that only happened once. By the third day, she could quite neatly and quietly glide with her wings, though Halva still refused to let her even try to fly normally. Every time she tried to bring it up, it would be swiftly shut down with all manner of excuses and warnings.

And sure, it made sense from his position. If he let her just fly around, one day she might either get shot out of the sky by an arrow or decide she had enough of his company and fly off. Now, Ruby knew she'd never do that, not unless he did something stupid and she had to fly away from him for one reason or another, but to him, Ruby was an unknown, so better safe than sorry. Doesn't mean she had to like it though.

And he still refused to let her learn even a single word of Dovah-speech. He admitted that he could use it when she cornered him about it since she heard him use it once he blew open the wall of her tomb. Apparently what he used was some kind of detect life ability, which is why he wasn't looking for any kind of ambush when he saw her.

But, despite the fact that there was no way she could threaten anybody with an ability to see their life-force, he still refused to let her know a single word of it. Apparently, it was "too dangerous", and that he'd teach her later when she was ready for it. But Ruby had spent too much time around her sister to believe that since he used the same tone as Yang did whenever Ruby brought up the idea of Ruby taking apart Ember Celica. Despite all her promises of trusting her, Yang had always just told her excuses and said "Later." whenever she pushed for it.

Thinking about Yang, Ruby then let herself ponder what must have been happening back home. For a moment, Ruby let herself hope that maybe time wouldn't pass and that if she found a way back, she'd suddenly snap back in at the moment she left, but she doubted it. Furthermore, thinking about that threatened to send Ruby into a panic, since it would be just as likely that Ruby would spend only a few months here, yet on Remnant several dozen years might pass. What if she got back and everybody she knew was dead? Or she arrives and the Grimm had won?

And with those thoughts, Ruby resolved to tie them up in a nice neat box in the back of her mind, then pour dust all over it and everything near it and make a nice big bonfire out of it. That kind of thought wouldn't help her, and might even send her packing if she let it distract her during critical moments. When, not if, she got back, that's when she'd let the box open, but for now, she was stranded in Skyrim, and she'd just have to make the most of it. Of course, the first step in arriving in a new world, make yourself comfortable.

So, first stop, Eorlund Grey-Mane.

The fact was that, while it was a comfortable enough ride, and wasn't too inconvenient in travelling in general, Ruby riding on Halva's shoulder like that simply wouldn't work in the long term. So they enlisted the help of Eorlund, the blacksmith for the Companions, who seemed all too happy to help a Dragonborn, companion, and now, at least according to the eternally grinding rumour mill, a "dragon-tamer".

And he was almost finished with the new project.

So far, Eorlund had made a flat hexagonal plate that was slightly larger than Ruby, made out of Malachite for durability and lightness, and fitted with straps and various other fittings to the underside. He was most of the way through forging a shoulder-piece which would act as the stand for the plate to sit on to of, still allowing a full range of movement.

But, the cherry on top, with a large thanks to Halva himself for being a kleptomaniac, and the court-wizard of Whiterun Farengar Secret-Fire, was the system constructed by the Wizard, using a Dwemer gyro and some spare Malachite, which would balance the plate, both allowing the plate to remain level in most situations, but would also keep the weight evenly balanced across Halva's shoulder using the myriad fittings and straps under the plate, despite the plate mostly hanging off the edge of his shoulder.

Though Ruby had to pat herself on the back as well since she recognised the little device sitting on Halva's shelf as a gyroscopic stabiliser, and questioned him about it, bringing the entire idea into existence. Of course, the story spun to Farengar was simply that Halva thought of the idea whilst looking at the gyro, but that didn't change the fact that, without Ruby, the plate would have been far smaller and much closer to his neck, since otherwise the plate would unbalance his shoulder, even made out of light-weight materials, which would make the entire idea an exercise in futility, as the plate would simply be too small to be comfortable, and would hamper Halva's movement.

Finally making their way up the steps of the Sky-Forge, both Ruby and Halva let out slight gasps at the beautiful piece of equipment sitting on the worktable. While they'd both seen Malachite in its ingot form before, having it sculpted into a custom shoulder-piece like that was incredible. Though Halva had no frame of reference to judge it on, he still thought that the careful slopes and hooks seamlessly flowing into the main body of the armor was a masterpiece.

Ruby, on the other hand, had to stifle her laughter, both at Halva's face, but also the fact that the armor in front of her resembled some kind of really bad grapple hook system. There were loops and hooks covering the shoulder and even extending partway down the arm, which she knew was meant to allow the gyro to keep the plate level and redistribute the weight, but it still made her giggle at the thought of Halva extending his arm, and suddenly zipping away like Torchwick.

However, before either of them could comment on it, a hand found itself on Halva's other shoulder and Ruby's back, causing Halva to spin around, leaving a disoriented Ruby to spin her head twice, as Halva turning when she also tried to turn made her very dizzy and facing the wrong way, before both of them focused on the rather peculiar sight of an almost ecstatic Eorlund, who looked as though he'd found the holy grail and was going to receive 3 wishes.

"Well you two, what do you think of it?" He let out with a bellow.

Throwing a glance back over his shoulder at the Malachite masterpiece awaiting him, Halva could only grin back at Eorlund, while Ruby tried her best to simply look happy. "It, honestly, looks like a masterwork. I mean it Eorlund!" Halva yells when Eorlund fixed him with a sceptical gaze, before breaking down into loud laughter, drawing a few eyes from the companions milling around the training area near the forge. "And I'm sure Ruby appreciates it as well, right?" Halva says with a roll of his shoulder, before realizing Ruby had already left his shoulder to approach the armor. Sighing at the casual forgetfulness of the rules once again, Halva simply crossed his arms and watched as Ruby carefully approached the armor, before she turned her neck around to look over at Eorlund, who simply nodded.

Satisfied, Ruby hopped up onto the table, gazing carefully at the armor and the gyro mounted atop it, before then going carefully over each and every strap and crossed rope. Apparently happy with the state of the armor, Ruby gently laid a paw on the plate, watching as the ropes slightly shifted to keep the plate as level as possible, before applying more pressure and watching as the fitting and ropes once again shifted to compensate for the new weight.

Finally, Ruby hopped up onto the plate, lowering her torso as the plate started moving more, finally settling at an almost perfect level. Finally, she curled herself up on the plate, and, to the laughter of Halva and Eorlund, and her embarrassment later, managed to fall asleep atop the plate, trilling her contentment like a kitten.


	5. Chapter 5

**Hmm. First time in an author note with literally nothing to say. Interesting. I'll just say thank you all for the reviews, and if you have suggestions or ideas, I'm happy to hear them. And if you have criticisms you wish to voice, please do so. Things you don't mention will simply pile up until you get annoyed and stop reading. So, please, constructively criticize away!**

**Oh, and if you notice errors, please, feel free to send me a PM telling me about the error, and preferably describe where it is, so I can correct it! Cheers!**

**Well, on with the chapter!**

_**Chapt****er**** 5**_

* * *

"Yes, I know it's exciting Ruby, but can you please sit still for five more damn minutes so I can finish the fittings?" Halva yelled, desperately trying to attach all the necessary points of the harness before Ruby inevitably unbalanced the whole thing, causing the plate to slide straight off Halva's shoulder and onto the floor, leaving a sheepish Ruby to stare at Halva, whose eye was twitching rather impressively.

Before he could get a single word of his anger out though, Ruby tilted her head, giving him the worlds strongest puppy eyes, causing his resolve the flake off and dissolve in those silver pools. Then Ruby looked away, down at the plate now sitting in the floor.

"I'm sorry Halva, but seriously! You at least get to walk around freely, I've been stuck in like 3 places for the past month! I just want to get out of here." Ruby let out, before hopping back with a yelp when Halva flicked a chip of wood at her.

"Well, if you stopped being so damn distracting, we'd already be leaving! Now, can you please just sit still for a few minutes so I can actually attach this damn plate? I swear, Eorlund could have at least tried something to make this easier to assemble, it's like trying to assemble a damn table from the Aldmeri, the instructions are always terrible, and they never send all the damn parts!"

Ruby then giggled to herself, prompting Halva to let out a chuckle of his own. "You know, that sounds a lot like a company from my home as well. They'd always send you stuff, but the instructions booklet would either be missing, or useless, and you never had all the screws you damn well needed!" Ruby said with a smile, before her face turned solemn at the thought of home, though she quickly brushed that aside, throwing the thought on top of her big pile of thoughts to deal with later, and refocusing on Halva, who was now most of the way through re-attaching fittings to the new harness.

Of course, they'd already tested the harness out, but both Ruby and Eorlund had warned Halva that he should try to take the fittings out of the mechanisms as often as possible to check for any damage, mostly to the moving parts, especially the ropes used to hold the plate, since they'd fray and be worn down if simply left in the mechanism permanently. After some grumbling from Eorlund, and with Ruby's insistence, Halva finally agreed to it, though he made sure that they both knew his complaints at every juncture.

Deciding to give Halva a bit of room to finish up and make sure the harness moves properly, Ruby hopped over to the Skyforge, hopping inside and curling up amongst the coals. It was a total accident when Ruby brushed her tail straight through the fireplace in Breezehome, but after some experimenting, they found out that Ruby, despite all other dragons not sporting this ability, was somehow immune to fire, or at least all the fires available in Whiterun. Even the Skyforge wasn't hot enough for Ruby to care. Though she had to be careful when getting back out, as her scales would be incredibly hot. Though it was a great defence mechanism, since if she were being chased, she could hop into a fireplace or a forge, and her pursuers wouldn't be able to get her out. Not unless they had some silly ability like fire-proof gloves or something.

Plus it, of course, meant that if some poor fool tried using a fire-based attack on Ruby, all it'd do is feel like a nice warm summer breeze. Halva had already tested using flames on Ruby, at her insistence, and she described it as a directed warm breeze, whereas fires were like sitting above a radiator. The mention of a radiator was a rather problematic problem, one that Ruby hurriedly attempted to cover up as simply a warm device from her home, describing it as an adjustable and warm magical piece of metal. Though Halva didn't quite believe it was that simple, he let it drop, much to Ruby's relief.

Of course, Ruby could have simply described what it actually was, but using magic as an excuse was a good way to keep what her world was actually like a secret. Halva knew that Ruby wasn't from Skyrim or even Tamriel in general, and while he theorized that she might have been born in Akavir, the way she sometimes looked, when it was clear something from her past came up, made him think she might have been from Yokuda, since that land was barren and harsh, which would explain why Ruby was so haunted at times. But considering her regular personality, it was unlikely. Such a life would surely have made her jaded and mistrustful.

However, Halva was adamant with himself to leave it where it lay, and trust that Ruby would simply tell him when she was ready. Of course, she had her accidental moments where things from her past slipped through the cracks, and attempt to cover it up with excuses. But, while Halva would capitalize on those mistakes and learn what he could, he was more than willing and patient enough to wait for the full story to become visible.

Plus, he had his duty as a Dragonborn to worry about, not even counting the myriad of other things he had to do. Like right now. The main reason they were leaving was that Halva wanted to head up north, to Winterhold, both to fulfil an errand for Farengar as payment for his assistance with the dwemer gyroscope, but also because Halva simply wanted to learn more magic.

And, while he was reluctant to let Ruby advance this quickly, he was curious to see whether she had any kind of affinities for the magical arts. She clearly had a head for engineering and weaponsmithing, if the long nights spent up in the Skyforge with Eorlund were any indication, and he wished to see whether she could become a proper spellcaster. Of course, Halva knew he could teach her Dovah-speech, and she could tap into that to craft spells more powerful than many on Tamriel could even dream of casting. But for now, Halva had made a compromise for himself, in that, if Ruby could cast all regular magic, she would stay with that, until such a point as Halva could trust her to not run off with her abilities and cause trouble.

If, however, she showed no magical affinity, he would, albeit reluctantly, teach her some dragon shouts, though only ones that were moderate in their power. No unrelenting force, that shout was enough to topple houses. Halva had planned to only teach her shouts like Become Ethereal, Clear Skies, and Kyne's peace at first. All shouts that would be useful for Ruby, but wouldn't give her too much power. After some arguing back and forth, he also agreed to give her some general purpose shouts like Disarm and Battle Fury, though he still held onto the idea of only teaching her if Ruby proved to be incapable of magic.

But, before the pair could even begin to get saddled up, Eorlund brought up the idea of simply taking Ruby up to see Farengar, since he would be quite happy to test Ruby on her abilities, much to the pair's frustration at being held in Whiterun for even longer.

* * *

Much to Ruby's mixed anger and joy, just from reading one of the few magical theory books kindly loaned out by Farengar, the little dragon had already managed to cast and maintain a Candlelight spell for the full 60 seconds. And she had just as much aptitude from other schools of magic, as she managed to cast a novice spell from each school after reading a single book on each spell. Sparks, Healing, and Courage were all swiftly cast, much to Ruby's joy and Farengar's silent approval of this new addition to the ranks of the dwindling number of mages in Skyrim.

She did have some trouble conjuring a familiar though. After several attempts where the conjured ball of magicka simply fizzled out on impact with the ground, much to Ruby's dismay and Farengar's confusion, Ruby finally got angry and threw the pure ball of Magicka forwards as hard as she could, whilst pouring far too much magicka into the spell, causing it to explode against the ground, throwing the two of them back into a wall.

However, before Farengar could even remark anything about what just happened, a metal clanking sound could be heard, and the two of them raised their heads to see a suit of armor standing at attention.

And, while Farengar busied himself with looking over this new conundrum with great interest, as Familiar spells should always summon a facsimile of a wolf, Ruby was simply staring at the spitting image of an Arma Gigas, though without the Geist of course. Thinking back quickly to how she cast the spell, Ruby realized where she must have been doing wrong. Instead of simply allowing the magic to take its own form, Ruby was imagining a familiar similar to how Weiss could summon fallen enemies, with the first image of a familiar for her being the common Arma Gigas summon. And as an Arma Gigas was far larger than a wolf, the magicka drain must have been inordinate, which was why she had failed the summon so many times.

Dispelling the spell, Ruby then attempted to cast the same magic again, though this time ignoring the recommended magicka quantity, and began pouring in a much larger portion of her magicka reserves into the spell, before carefully throwing the orb out again and watching in awe as, instead of exploding as before, the swirling vortex of magic formed into another, slightly larger, Arma Gigas. Silently, Ruby then walked forwards, extending her hand and pressing against the chestpiece of the newly-summoned familiar, which leant back slightly but did not dispel.

Ruby was then broken out of her thoughts by the loud clapping emitting from Farengar, who seemed to be desperately holding himself back from poking and prodding the familiar, since he settled for taking a seat and, after finishing his applause, beckoning Ruby over, which of course had the added effect of making the Gigas trundle along after her, making them both jump from the heavy footsteps.

However, before she settled anywhere, Ruby suddenly felt as though a light-bulb had gone on over her head, as she glanced up at the familiar, and then, with an eyebrow quirk from Farengar, hopped up onto his desk, then a shelf, before gliding over, and neatly landing atop the tall shoulders of her familiar, with a giant grin on her face, settling down on the shoulder of her summon much like her original position atop Halva.

"So, Farengar, how do I command the familiar? Think about it! If I can make the familiar walk around, I don't even have to ride on Halva's shoulder." Noticing Farengar's slightly pained expression, Ruby quickly leapt to his defence. "Not that there's anything wrong with the mechanism for his shoulder-plate, It's just that it'd be easier for him to move around without it. We'd still need it in town, because seeing a dragon riding on a 10-foot tall suit of ethereal armor is probably a bad idea, huh?" Ruby explained, whilst Farengar rubbed his chin and nodded along, all the while glancing between Ruby, who was now comfortably nestled atop the armor, and the familiar itself, which still showed no signs of dissipation.

"Now this is very interesting. Ruby?" At her name, Ruby raised her head in question. "Think about it. How long has it been since you summoned this familiar? And, unlike a wolf familiar, while the armor still has the slightly ethereal glowing typical of a summon, it doesn't have the vaguely mist-like sight of magicka leakage. Meaning your spell is retaining nearly all of the added magicka which is keeping the form bound to our world."

"Uhh, easier words please Farengar?" Ruby said, confused about what exactly he meant by all that, glancing occasionally towards her new familiar. Rubbing his chin, Farengar contemplated trying to explain the concept of magicka leakage as one would to a child, or in this case, somebody new to magic.

"Hmm, consider it this way. Imagine the summon as a big ball of your magicka, which you compressed, and then sent out. That magicka then forcibly pulls a body out of the residual magicka in the world, forming it into a wolf, or in your case a suit of armor. However, this process is wasteful. The magicka in your familiar will leak out, which is why, after 60 seconds, a familiar will disappear. However, your summon has been standing here for a few minutes and hasn't disappeared yet. Plus, whilst the summon looks like a regular familiar, the signs of magicka leakage aren't available. Observe."

Farengar then turned away from Ruby, preparing his own familiar spell, before casting it and allowing Ruby to observe a normal familiar.

"Oh, I get it. So that mist stuff coming from the wolf is magicka?" Farengar curtly nods, chucking as Ruby walked around the Wolf, before declaring it, in her own words, "Adorable!" and rubbing her head against the ethereal wolf's, before crying out in surprise and sadness when the wolf suddenly vanished. "Well then why doesn't my familiar have that? Isn't that something that should always happen?"

"Not exactly. Some mages skilled in Atromancy can craft familiar spells which leak very little magicka, increasing the duration of the spell immensely. You can also dual-cast spells, which will double the amount of magicka, but in the same form, granting a doubled time-limit for the familiar. However, this is the first time I have ever seen practically zero magicka leakage from a regular familiar. Though we must account for the fact that as a dragon, there is a good chance that, due to your unique biology and connection to Aetherius, which is the plane of pure magicka, you might have an innate ability to regulate and control magicka. Given the fact that, whilst all other mages would have had a wolf appear, you managed to summon a large, probably 10 foot tall, suit of autonomous armor akin to a dwemer centurion, and for the same quantity of magicka as an Atronach, you have to have some kind of unique situation different to all other known mages for such a major difference from regular magical theory to occur."

Looking back at Ruby, Farengar sighed as he realized that at least 90% of the words he'd just said to her went in one ear and out the other. "I'll just write you some notes for you to go over, you clearly just want to play with your new summon. Don't forget though, this means you won't get to learn any shouts!" At this, Ruby pouted hard, glaring at Farengar as though he was responsible, to which he raised his hands in mock surrender. "Hey, don't stab the messenger. Go get angry at Halva if you want. And, to answer your long-forgotten question, if you just mentally think about what you want the Familiar to do, as long as it's capable of such a thing, it'll try it's best to do your bidding."

Almost immediately Farengar was regretting his choice of reminding Ruby of how to control the Familiar. Sure, she would have figured it out easily enough just by reading the book on Familiar conjuration, but she would have done so away from him. As it was, he was now being subjected to a massive suit of armor traipsing around his laboratory, with a red dragon sat on its shoulder, giggling like the worlds funniest joke was told to her.

"RUBY!" The sudden yell managed to shock Ruby out of her laughter, and both dragon and armor turned to the holder of such a voice.

"While it is amusing to watch Farengar's lab being used as a testing ground for a large suit of armor, it is rather loud, and mighty distracting. Please, go and practice elsewhere. I shall grant you permission to leave unattended, as long as you swear on your newly-found ability that you won't get side-tracked, and you shall find your way straight to Jorrvaskr." Jarl Balgruuf said, addressing Ruby with a stern gaze, allowing no argument to be voiced, only a meek nod and a loud clanging, as the armor bowed towards the Jarl, before hurriedly making its way towards the doors, eager to show off to the companions.

* * *

"Thank you, Jarl. I really didn't want to have to deal with an excited Ruby like that again." Halva said, coming out from his hiding spot behind one of the pillars dotting the room. "Though I find it odd she left so quickly, she didn't even look forwards the chestpiece today." He said, gazing towards the white-gold armor, still resting in its position of honor.

Whenever Ruby entered or left Dragonsreach, she'd made it a habit of looking towards the armor at least once, but whenever asked would just clam up, murmur excuses about the past and ignore any other attempts at getting information at her. However, today she had entered and gone straight to Farengar, not even remembering the armor in her hurry. And when leaving, again, not a glance, simply leaving the hold in a hurry.

"Well, I'm sure she has her reasons for her routine, and maybe said reasons are wearing off. Though I assume we still have no knowledge of the armor in question?" Balgruuf said, with a head tilted towards Farengar, who was assigned to research the chestpiece. But the man simply shook his head.

"No, my Jarl. The only thing we know is that a man wearing that armor stumbled into town with battle wounds and some kind of dissolving black liquid covering him, before passing out. He was taken to the temple of Kynareth and watched over. He disappeared at some point in the night, taking his sword and shield, but leaving the chestpiece. We still don't know what the metal is made from, any attempts to take samples is met with unyielding failure, and we don't even know when the man arrived in Whiterun. Apparently, the damned guard that was meant to write the date of this event down was either a lazy oaf or a drunk, as records are completely illegible at times. And, despite my cautious prodding, Ruby refuses to even acknowledge the armor. All we know of her history of it is that she knows the chestpiece, though that of course, is obvious."

"However!" Farengar suddenly raised his voice, recapturing the attention of the inhabitants of the room, "Ruby did give us a name to go with the armor, Jaune. Even mentioning this to her doesn't seem to get a reaction out of her, so we don't know, but we can assume it was the name of the man who wore the chestpiece. That begs the question as to how she could possibly know him since the man arrived before any of our lives began. Either she was raised and shown the armor somehow, possibly through magic, or she is far older than we give her credit for. Perhaps the tomb she was in was under a time-dilation spell, and your pyrotechnic display-" Farengar nodded towards Halva, who rubbed his neck sheepishly. "-to open it broke the spell in question, as such a delicate spell would undoubtedly be disrupted by such a display, which ended up releasing her. Though that doesn't explain why she wouldn't simply act as all other dragons, and why she can speak like us but knows not a single word of Dovah-speech."

Rubbing his hands together, the Jarl then called the attention of his hold to him. "Well, as much of a mystery as the young dragon is, she definitely seems happy enough to remain docile, and I trust that you will keep her as such Halva. I'm sure we all saw the genuine joy she had from summoning that, frankly ridiculous, suit of armor. And it shall undoubtedly be a boon in your travels. I can think of very few foes which would willingly attack a suit of armor 10 feet tall, especially with a young dragon riding atop it. Now, Halva, I hear you plan to head to the College of Winterhold? I assume that plan is most undoubtedly unchanged now after your companion's little display of prowess."

Nodding along, Halva opens his mouth to respond, though is quickly silenced by the Jarl, raising a hand in a clear display of pause. "Halva, I must warn you now. Do not let the mages get their hands on Ruby. Some of those men have spent their entire lives looking for an opportunity for semi-permanent spell-casting. And Ruby's little display has already shown to us that she has remarkable control over her own Magicka. Imagine what would happen if she demonstrated that in front of those mages. While I imagine the Arch-Mage to be honorable enough to refrain from trying anything, that cannot be extended to the students, nor the Thalmor operative present. I imagine the Thamor would begin another war if it meant getting their hands on such a powerful creature. And her intelligence would mean little to them."

"I know how it sounds, Halva, but the Jarl speaks the truth." Farengar states with a slow shake of his head. "I remember that Thalmor, Ancano his name was. If he catches wind of your dragons innate abilities with magic, he will definitely send word to his superiors at the Thalmor Embassy, who will in turn pass on that information to the Thalmor at large. And I'm sure you'd wish to avoid that kind of scrutiny. Now, as much as it horrifies me, I have to warn you of what the Thamor would do if they got ahold of Ruby. She'd be treated like a magical battery, used to cast and maintain high-level spells in Thalmor lands. And that's the lightest of what they'd do to her. I'll spare you details, but, just trust me when I swear that I wouldn't wish it upon any living creature. So, keep her abilities on the down-low, and make sure she dispels any summons within a reasonable time-frame. If you wish, you can explain any inconsistencies as a superior form of spell that only she could use. The Thamor wouldn't move just to capture a dragon with a slightly abnormal summon-time."

Halva nodded along, taking everything in with a deep breath and a rub of his eyes. Why did the world have to be so complicated, all he wanted was to go and learn some new magic with Ruby, and now he has to worry about mages and Thalmor trying to steal his friend and companion if they find out about her abilities.

"Alright. I'll talk to her about it, though she won't be happy about having to hide her new abilities. I can play off her familiar as a unique spell perhaps, some people have unique summons so it shouldn't be hard. The big kicker is the fact that her familiar doesn't release any Magicka-mist, but I'm sure she could cast an illusion spell atop it, maybe even incorporating it into the syntax of her familiar spell to be cast automatically. But, those are problems for us to worry about." Halva began to leave, pausing to wave at the Jarl, before confidently striding from the hall, rubbing his head all the while.

"Why do you have to be such a handful Ruby?" He asked nobody in particular.

"Well, if she wasn't, I wouldn't be here." A distorted voice said from behind Halva, prompting him to spin, whilst laying his hand on his sword in surprise at the figure stood behind him.

A black cloak was slung over his shoulders, with a hood up to hide his face in an impenetrable veil of darkness, magical in design considering the torches all around the pair, and the clear voice alteration spell cast atop it. His chest was covered by a silver chestpiece, with black fabric underneath, and leather belts wrapped around his stomach, holding a tattered red sash to his body. His arms had gauntlets covering the forearm and hands, leaving his biceps exposed, covered halfway by the same black fabric as the clothing under his chestpiece. His legs were covered in an unidentifiable blue material, with straps wrapped around his left leg, holding something akin to an short, fat, thick scabbard to his leg, with a wooden grip protruding out at a 90 degree angle, meaning the weapon was attached at an odd angle, almost like a sickle or axe. His feet were covered with black knee-height boots, with metal on the tops of the feet.

However, one of the two most catching parts to the figure were the swords on his back, one of which was red and golden, with the same red fabric around his waist wrapped around the grip, and hanging from the end of the blade like a tassel, the other being a plain blue and gold hilt, with a white fabric wrapped in the same manner as the first.

But, it was the other feature of the figure in front of him that truly stood out. For while the hood obscured his face, it deliberately revealed his intimidating eyes. A deep blue stared out of the darkness, looking towards Halva with a mixture of indifference, anger, protectiveness, but most notably fear. What did this figure in front of him have to fear from him? He clearly had the abilities to simply just kill him silently, so why address him as such?

Deciding the man was probably not a threat, Halva decided to be the one to extend an olive branch, taking his hand from his weapon and extended that same hand towards the man, who eyed it warily. "Well, introductions then. My name is Halva. What's your name, stranger?" He said, with a smile.

Said smile vanished almost immediately as the man turned away towards Dragonsreach, a small streak of blond hair falling from the hood as he grunted out one word...

"Jaune."


	6. Chapter 6

**Nothing to say again really! So, I'm gonna just say cheers for all the kind reviews! And, as I said, if you have a suggestion, or notice an error somewhere, or even want to just chat with me about something you liked or disliked, drop me a PM, and I'll try to respond as quickly as I can.**

**Now, on with the chapter...**

**_Chapter 6_**

* * *

The Companions, by most peoples standards, were a pretty normal guild of warriors. They kept to themselves, but still went out of their way to help the regular citizens of Skyrim at most junctures. Why, just a few months ago they, with the token assistance of the Dragonborn, killed a giant a mere few hundred meters from the gates of Whiterun itself. Such an event was sure to send a few ripples through the hold, as a giant would have severely disrupted trade in and around the hold, almost guaranteeing that the Khajiit caravans would avoid the city in the meantime, meaning far less trade for everybody.

And, despite hosting both the Dragonborn and his new reptilian companion in their hold regularly, though usually simply around their forge, they weren't ready for a 10-foot tall suit of glowing white armor to come barreling down the steps from Dragonsreach with a hysterical little red dragon practically dancing atop her mount.

Some of the companions simply took this in stride. Eorlund, for instance, simply shrugged from his position at the forge, before getting back to work forging. Or Kodlak Whitemane, the benign Harbinger of the Companions, and the closest to a leader that any one man could be amongst the companions. Said man was simply stood amongst his fellows in the training grounds, watching with a bemused smirk adorning his scarred face.

And then, there were the companions who preferred action to inaction. Indeed, many of the companions had hands atop weapons, with a few even subtly drawing themselves into combat stances and preparing potions for usage. Indeed, many a companion had relished the thought of fighting such a formidable foe, and many hoped that they would get a chance in the near future.

But, before anybody could even try to question why the little dragon was atop this suit of armor, the colossus in question suddenly vanished into a large cloud of mist, whilst Ruby simply glided seamlessly from the disappeared suit and onto a table, glancing around with the closest to a smirk a dragon could pull off, looking to the world like the dragon who ate the king, framed the dwemer, and stood to gain control of the throne.

"Well, that was fun. I told you that it would be fine, they all like me!" Ruby yelled over her shoulder, prompting the Companions to spin in unison and collectively attempt to hold back laughter at the winded Whiterun guard who was now stood doubled over, gasping desperately for breath and flailing a hand in the direction of the young red dragon, who was now doing her best impression of the most innocent creature on Tamriel, who definitely didn't just eat all the cookies in the jar.

"Do I even want to know what your plan was then, little Red?" Kodlak bellowed, a raised eyebrow the only hint as to his thoughts on the matter. "Certainly, if the plan was to simply confuse all those assembled here, then you succeeded, but I trust there was more to it than that?"

With a sigh, Ruby turned away from the guard, who was gratefully accepting a flagon of water from a companion, to gaze headlong at the Harbinger, tilting her head in question. "What do you mean? Wasn't it obvious?" Ruby said, unfurling her wings in the closest to a shrug that she could pull off. "The giant suit of armor, which just disappeared into mist? The fact that I literally just came from Farengar? What do you think, Kodlak?"

"Ahh, so you can use magic! Congratulations. Though I imagine you'd be more frustrated, as this means Halva will refuse to teach you any of your own language for a good while." The man said, shaking his head at the pouting dragon.

"Yeah, but that's not it! Think about it harder! What's abnormal about this whole situation?" Ruby yelled, making a few of the companions jump and peer towards the little dragon, who wasn't known for raising her voice much. "A. Giant. Suit. Of. Armor, Kodlak!"

Snapping his fingers, the Harbinger pointed towards the crimson dragon, his smirk betraying his intentions. "Oh, you made a new friend! Well done."

Groaning, Ruby decided to simply address the dovah in the room, for the companions too slow to pick up on both her intentions and Kodlak's jesting. "My familiar isn't a normal one, it's a giant suit of armor!"

"Oh, I was wondering what that was. I was curious to see if Farengar was using you as a test dummy or something. Wouldn't do you have you be blown up before you can field-test that armor, huh Ruby?" Eorlund said, waving a hand when Ruby turned towards his voice. "Speaking of which, you two still need to actually take it out on a test-run. Theoretically, it works fine, and you've used it in town, certainly, but what happens if a stray arrow slices through one of the ropes? You two need to be able to work on it in the field. And by you two, I mean Halva, since unfortunately for you Ruby, you don't have opposable thumbs." At that, Eorlund waggled his thumbs at the dragon, drawing a snort from her and loud bellowing from the nearby Harbinger.

"Whatever. You're just jealous that I have a cool summon!"

With that, Ruby turned on the spot, trotting up towards the forge for a warm nap, blissfully unaware of the single pair of eyes tracking her motions...

* * *

"Ahh, Halva. Did you perhaps forge-" The Jarl began, before noticing the man who entered alongside the Dragonborn, and snapping his mouth shut as he inspected this newcomer. "At the rate you're going Halva, you'll have a full guild of your own in a week!" Balgruuf yelled, before rubbing his eyes, when it was made clear that the atmosphere simply wasn't right for such a joke. "Excuse me. Now, who is by your side this time?"

Before Halva could get a word in, the man strode forward, pressing a fist to his chestplate. "Jarl Balgruuf, you would not know me, but I go by the name Jaune." Raising his hand to forestall the inevitable arguments, the man simply glanced around the room, his eyes briefly settling on the familiar chestpiece now hanging from the wall. "I understand that young Ruby made mention of my name when she first arrived, though, while it is rather irritating, I can see now why she would evoke my name so freely, I can imagine her shock at seeing an artifact of her past like that, especially after spending such little time in the open world."

Turning his attention from the old armor and towards Halva, the man's eyes creased up and he managed to convey his feelings towards the man through an eye-smile. "I believe I have you to thank for freeing her. I would have done so myself in short time, but extenuating circumstances bade me far from this land at that moment and incapable of assisting. Though you should be commended, your own timeliness was extraordinary. I'd imagine Akatosh probably has his sticky fingers over that event, as usual. Now, I know you all must have far too many questions for me, but time is of the essence."

Turning his focus from the Dragonborn and back to the Jarl, the man straightened, lowering his cowl and granting the Jarl a full view of his strangely unremarkable face, before his voice, unmarred by whatever enchantments were upon his mask, broke the silence that fell upon the hall. "I come here today to request the assistance of the Jarl of Whiterun, Balgruuf the Greater, as well as the Dragonborn, Companion of Ysgramor, Champion of the Daedric Princes Meridia, Sanguine and Sheogorath, the current companion to one Ruby Rose."

"Once again, I must reiterate that while I would love nothing more than to settle in and answer your many questions, we simply do not have the time. Even now, forces move which would seek to kill all those assembled here, and claim the young Ruby as their weapon. I have spent far too long working on this plane to lose a friend like that again, one was damn well enough."

Shaking his head, the man refocused, waving his hand and summoning a scroll from nothingness, much to the amazement of Farengar, and the raised eyebrows of Halva and Balgruuf. "This scroll will tell you all you need to know. I must warn you though, this will be rather disorienting, though perfectly safe, I assure you."

Without warning, the man then threw the scroll upwards, where it unfurled, swiftly burning in the typical blue flame of pure magicka, and covering Halva entirely in pure darkness. And out of the darkness, quiet murmuring could be heard, though those final words were only heard by Halva himself.

"Though I must warn you, what you shall see is nothing but the truth, no matter what stories the scroll will tell." The man said, before the last vestiges of consciousness fled the Dragonborn, and he slipped into the endless darkness.

* * *

Shuddering suddenly, Ruby threw a glance towards Dragonsreach, trying to place what she just felt.

"You alright there Ruby?" Eorlund asked her, briefly glancing up from his work to look at the dragon.

"Yeah, fine. Just a weird feeling." She said nonchalantly, throwing a second glance up at the building, before shrugging and returning to her nap.

* * *

Waking with a jolt, Halva immediately went from lying down on the floor to stood upright and alert in moments. Glancing around his surroundings, he immediately came to the conclusion that he was no longer on Dragonsreach. Somehow, whatever 'Jaune' did, it transported him to...somewhere else.

Instead of the familiar hold, he was stood in a large room. The walls were all white and grey, a few paintings were adorning the walls, with black wooden flooring, some red curtains, a bookshelf below the window, and some scattered boxes.

But the most eye-catching part of the room was the beds. There were 4 beds in the room, though they weren't exactly orthodox beds. There were two which were normal, but the other two were suspended above the other beds, one with nothing but rope, and the other with piles of books.

Approaching the bookshelf, Halva saw a small painting, barely a hand width across, stood atop it, with 4 girls in it. A girl in red, which funnily enough reminded Halva of Ruby, considering how much she loved red, a girl in white, another in black, and one in yellow. Looking closer, engraved underneath the painting was the initials R.W.B.Y, possibly referring to the names of the four girls.

But, before he could think on it any further, the door suddenly swung open, and three of the four girls from the painting burst into the room. Reaching down for his sword, just in case, Halva did a double take when two things simultaneously happened. The first is that his hand went through the position his sword hilt should have occupied, meaning the mage must have taken it from him. The second was far more confusing, as the girl in white walked straight through Halva, as though he was not there, sitting herself down on the bed below the one held by rope, rubbing her forehead in frustration.

However, it was the black one that spoke first.

"Weiss, I know it's frustrating, but we have to keep trying. If we don't, we're as good as admitting she's not coming back. I mean, we still don't know what even happened, let alone where she could have gone!" The black-clad girl said with a yell.

The white girl, Weiss, retorted with a snappy, "I know that Blake! But even with my fathers 'support' in this, not to mention Yang's uncle and our friends, we haven't found a single hint of where she went, and it's been months!" The girl yelled, before covering her eyes and slumping onto the bed. Halva had to work hard to keep his grimace in. It was clear that, whoever had vanished, she meant a lot to these girls. Though, Halva wondered with a rub of his chin, why was Jaune showing him this. Sure, this was probably the truth, someone disappeared, and they couldn't find her, nor a hint of where she had gone to.

But, that still didn't answer the question of why show him this? Deciding to put that off for how, Halva returned his attention to the other bits and pieces of clutter around the apparent bedroom of these girls. A few pieces of what looked to be maintenance kits were scattered around on desks, alongside some piles of what looked remarkably like fire salts and blasting powder next to some narrow cylinders.

What really drew the eye, however, was the large scythe hanging from the wall. After looking at the girls, and noting the weapons that two of them carried, which followed the color motif the girls apparently had, halva concluded that the red and black scythe was likely the missing girl's weapon, rather than the girl in yellow. Recalling the engraving under the painting frame, Halva put together that the likely name for the girl was Yang, as Weiss had made mention of Yang's uncle, which would mean familial assistance in searching for a missing friend, which made sense.

Though Halva still didn't have a name for the missing girl, nor any idea why the man had decided to show him this. But, as before, his thoughts were interrupted when a startlingly familiar face entered the room.

"Hey, Yang, Qrow wanted to speak to you. He said something about being out of town, and asked me to come and get you." Jaune said quickly, leaving Halva to rub his chin, whilst Yang bade her goodbyes to the other two girls and quickly left to follow Jaune.

And it definitely was Jaune. While the face was unmarred by scars, and his physique was different, it was surely him, as the chestpiece he was currently wearing was identical to the one from Dragonsreach. Though this made him wonder, was he looking back in time? Because if so, this girl must have been missing for hundreds of years, as Jaune himself was at least a few hundred years old if the time of his arrival and subsequent loss of his armor were any indications.

"Hey, Blake, can you turn the radiator on, it's cold in here now?"

And with a simple word, Halva's brain clicked the pieces together.

R.W.B.Y. Ruby, Weiss, Blake, Yang. It made sense. She had the same name, the same likes of color, the same love for weaponry if the maintenance kits were any indication, and Jaune would have known her if he spent time in this same building. Though, why was she depicted as a human in that painting was bizarre, though considering if she was regarded as a member of this team, it would explain her willingness to be around humans.

Before he could ponder that any more, a sudden wave of vertigo crashed into him, bring Halva to his knees and twisting the world around like a vortex, before suddenly, the darkness snapped out, and he was lying down again, but this time in the familiar halls of Dragonsreach, with a worried Farengar twisting his hands together as he watched the man, searching for any signs of injury or manipulation.

The Jarl was seated further away, in his familiar chair, his gaze snapping between suspicion towards Jaune, and something akin to worry and curiosity towards Halva. Stumbling upwards to his feet, Halva met Jaunes flat, tired gaze with one of his own, trying to figure out what exactly Jaune had shown him, aside from people who used to know Ruby, as well as his own past, however small a part he played in it.

"Allow me to forestall any questions you have, Dragonborn, for we need to make haste. And by we, I mean you. You must take Ruby and continue on your original plans, for Akatosh has already warned me of meddling with time, and I fear that, should I inadvertently create a paradox, he would not be kind to us. He would certainly seek to claim his pound of flesh, and the master of time has had a very long time for thought. I shall accompany you to collect Ruby, and then to the Whiterun stables, but that is as far as I dare press my favor with Time, for while I may be favored by it's master, time will only bend so far before irreparably snapping."

Rubbing a hand across his eyes, Jaune raised his cowl again, concealing his face and masking his voice once again, beckoning Halva to follow him, and throwing a quick bow in the direction of the Jarl, before continuing. "Though it pains me to have such little time with an old friend, I will have scant few minutes to talk with Ruby, and I don't intend to waste them, though only with what little comfort I can provide I shall give. But, I implore you, keep her safe, and keep her hidden. I shall call for you when needed, but for now, simply push these events in the back of your mind, and protect her as you would your other companions."

With that, the man then pushed the doors to Dragonsreach open, briefly glancing back over his shoulder, where Farengar was methodically peering at each part of the magicka-scorched stone his little spell caused, and the Jarl was simply holding his face with one hand, pondering over the events of the day, before briskly making his way through said doors, and down the steps towards his friend, the thoughts of what was on the horizon pressed down to allow his old self to come to the forefront. It wouldn't do to scare Ruby after such a long time apart after all, even if it had been a scant few weeks since they last spoke.

* * *

"Ruby!" Halva yelled, getting ahead of Jaune to try and ease Ruby into who exactly was following him.

"Oh, hey Halva! Did anything happen earl-" Ruby began, cut off with an audible gasp as Jaune stepped out from behind Halva, cowl lowered, with a beaming grin on his face as he gazed back at Ruby.

"Hey there Ruby." He said simply, waiting for her surprise to pass. And pass it did, as she squealed and flew straight at him, completely ignoring Halva's grunt of annoyance at the completely lack of rules currently going on.

"JAUNE!" She yelled, smashing into his chest at high speed, bowling the two of them over, landing on the floor in a bundle of limbs and wings. Wrapping her neck around Jaune's in the closest thing to a hug she could pull off, Ruby began her rapid-fire questioning of her friend. "WHY ARE YOU HERE? And what's with the chestpiece in Dragonsreach? And why do you have Pyrrhas sash on your waist? And what's with the two swords? And just WHY?" She re-iterated, tightening her hold on Jaune as he steadily got up, before settling for sitting on his shoulder with her neck still wrapped around his, remarking loudly, "Jeez Jaune, are you a giant now or something? You never used to have shoulders that wide!" She said with a grin.

"I have a lot to explain, but not much time, so I'll simply settle for this before I launch into the explanation." Jaune then pulled out something Ruby never expected to see in this world.

A working scroll, one currently replaying a scene from hell.

Beacon Tower being crushed by a dragon.

The White Fang opening cages full of Grimm, releasing them straight into Vale.

But, worst of all, Pyrrha kneeling on the ground, with an arrow in her chest.

"W-hat happened J-Jaune?" Ruby asked, desperately trying to hold back her tears.

Sighing, Jaune raised a hand to pat Ruby's head. "Ruby, to you, you've been here for about 2 weeks. But, on Remnant, even before I left..."

"You'd been gone for 5 years."

* * *

**And that's a wrap.**

**I've decided that I'm going to start popping little chapter ETA's in the end note, so you can know vaguely when to expect the next instalment of adorableness. I won't say that these are set in stone, it's just an estimate of when the next one will be out. So, without further ado...**

**Next Chapter: Sunday/Monday.**


	7. Chapter 7

**Heya everyone! As always, thanks for the kind reviews! Seriously, some of the stuff you guys are saying really makes me blush, it's awesome =D. ****Now, if only it could stop being so damned warm around here, I could write in peace. But, come hell, high water, or overwhelming heat in this case, I will make Ruby return to adorableness, even if it makes me a sweaty mess!**

**Now, on with the story...**

_**Chapter 7**_

* * *

"F-FIVE YEARS?" Ruby all but screamed at Jaune, eliciting a sigh from him, and several raised eyebrows from nearby companions, who quickly decided that anywhere but the Skyforge would be a good place to be right about then. "B-ut how? WHY?! Jaune, what happened? Come on, you don't get to just do this to me and not explain it!" Ruby continued, wrapping her head around Jaune's arm and all but hauling him to the ground, hopping onto his chest to hold him in place so she could fix him with a glare. "And you aren't leaving until you tell me what happened! I know that look Jaune, don't try to hide it, you wanted to just leave me to deal with that alone, well too bad!"

Sighing again, Jaune reached up to rub his eyes, inwardly cringing at himself for making this reunion so difficult to deal with. Ruby was happy before he showed her what happened, why not just leave her well enough alone. Not like how long she'd been gone would affect her right now. Sure, she'd be mad as hell later, but at least that way Jaune wouldn't have to bargain with Akatosh for this. Reaching over to pat Ruby on the head, and slightly flinching when she actually growled at him, Jaune settled for simply laying his hand on her wings, which, despite Ruby's best attempts at hiding it, was rather pleasant actually.

"Look, Ruby, I hate this, but I don't have time for the full explanation. What I just showed you was what happened at the Vytal festival during our first year. I wish I could stay and chat with you about it, but I have only a few minutes, and both you and Halva-" Jaune said with a nod towards the nearby man, who simply inclined his head, watching the two of them carefully, already knowing part of the story from Jaune's little trick, but not enough to piece everything together, "-need to continue on your original path, to head to Winterhold."

Shaking her head, Ruby settled for wrapping her neck around Jaune's, pinning her to him and practically pressing their noses together. "And why can't you just come with us? Then you could help us, and I can get a damned straight answer out of you!" Only to be moderately surprised when Jaune stood up, tucking one arm in so Ruby could rest atop it, whilst the other remained atop her wings, rubbing the crook where they joined her back, occasionally drawing unwanted and scarily cat-like purrs from an embarrassed Ruby, and making his way towards the gates of Whiterun at a brisk walk, with Halva, already ready for travel, following close behind.

"As I said, I wish I could explain it fully, but I can't, so you'll have to settle for simply 'I can't, it's complicated and involves paradoxes.' The TL:DR of it being that if I stay with you, time will be changed far too much to be acceptable, and I'd have to pay the price for changing time so much. I shouldn't even be here Ruby, I'm currently meant to be miles away on a moving island with the Psijic Order! But, I came here instead, to give you some minor assistance."

At this, Ruby tilted her head, finally trying to simply bottle up what Jaune said for later, and instead focus on the idea that Jaune was going to help them. "What do you mean by minor assistance? If you can't even stay long enough to talk with me properly, how could you possibly help, Jaune?" Only to be silenced when Jaune threw a scroll in the air, catching it with his other hand and throwing it towards Halva, who, to his credit, only fumbled with it a few times before properly grabbing it, stowing it away somewhere and looking towards Jaune expectantly.

"That scroll will come in very handy for you. The basic idea is mostly just Magicka theory, the idea of shaping Magicka into whatever form you wish it, rather than following pre-made spells. For 99.9% of the mages in Tamriel, doing so is impossible and would simply end up with a giant explosion. But, fortunately for you Ruby, you don't have to worry about that. While there will probably still be a few explosions, between the fact that you're a dragon, who are directly descended from Akatosh himself, and the information on that scroll, I expect that, before you reach Winterhold, you'll have a basic grasp on how to use Magicka in far more advanced ways than the College could possibly show you."

"Then why would we bother going?" Ruby squeaked, only to shake her head when Jaune bopped her on the nose.

"Because that would change time. Of course, the timeline has already been changed massively, but if you end up not going to certain locations, time will literally rip itself apart, which is something that only Akatosh can fix. Eventually, and with a lot of luck, you as one of his descendants might be able to harness some of his power and change time according to your will, but don't get your hopes up. The only other dragon capable of such a feat was Alduin, and he could only use it to tear his way into Sovngard, he couldn't manipulate time itself to any reasonable degree. But, we're getting ahead of ourselves, and time is now far shorter."

Glancing around, Jaune then waved a hand in the air, and a second later another figure, dressed very similarly to Jaune but with a full-cowl covering their face, dropped in front of him from atop the gatehouse they were approaching, kneeling down with a fist to the ground, and began to speak in the same unintelligible voice that Jaune had when his cowl was raised. "Master Jaune, I have done your bidding, and no Thalmor have yet laid eyes upon Miss Ruby's special abilities. The only mage who knows of her uniqueness with using Magicka is the one who taught her, and I deemed it likely you would not wish to remove him. What is your will?"

Ignoring Ruby's frantic glancing between himself and the figure, Jaune took a third scroll out of somewhere, handing it to the figure and stepping aside. "Your next tasks are on that scroll. Everything you'll need to know and all necessary equipment is available to you within. I bid you good luck in this, Nightingale."

Ignoring the stares being levelled by Halva and Ruby, Jaune then continued out of the gate, whilst the figure walked into the town further, cutting off any possible questions, and focused entirely on their new scroll. So, instead, Ruby settled for nudging Jaune for answers. "Who was that then, 'Master Jaune'?" She said in a mimic of Jaune's cowl voice, eyeing him as he grimaced at the word Master, rubbing his eyes when he realized the stables were still a good distance, and he'd probably annoy Ruby if he kept quiet about that figure to his friend.

"That, Ruby, was a Nightingale. In simple terms, they were very good thieves in the Thieves Guild and were blessed by Nocturnal when they become Nightingales to be even better, all the better to serve their Lady. And, despite being thieves, even a Nightingale will listen when money talks, so I hired that one to do some digging. You already heard what I had them look into, but their next mission is something I dare not speak of until it's time has come. And as thieves, they are very good at being subtle, something important when I give them missions to break into places and search for important information. That one just came back from the Thalmor Embassy, which, by the way, is one of the most secure locations in Skyrim."

Forestalling Ruby's indignation at Jaune casually breaking into, or rather, paying someone to break into, places that are definitely not meant to be broken into, he continued quickly. "Ruby, I don't much like breaking the law either, but if the Thalmor finds out about your unique Magicka control, they will stop at nothing, even another war against the Imperials, to get their hands on you. You NEED to get an excuse to use your magic without suspicion, and training within Winterhold is the best, both for distance from the Thalmor Embassy and their Justiciar corps, but also because Winterhold is full of unique mages. Now, there is a Thalmor there, Ancano, which means that until you find a good excuse for it, you'll have to avoid using any over-the-top magic like your Arma Gigas."

At that, Ruby pouted fiercely, staring straight behind them and practically ignoring Jaune. Logically, she knew it was the best idea, but she wanted to show off that she was basically Weiss at that point, dammit! However, her pout came to a sudden stop when Jaune also stopped, shifting his shoulder to get her attention, and she swung her head around to see three men approaching them, one of whom was repeatedly looking between them and a scroll clutching in his shaking hands. With a single nod from him, the other two drew their swords, and the scroll-bearer yelled out "By the decree of First Emissary Elenwen, the Thalmor Dominion demands that Halva Stoneheart relinquish his claim to the docile Crimson Dragon under his command, and hand over control to the Thalmor Embassy for-"

Before the Altmer could get another word out, Jaune raised his hand, and a wave of flame engulfed the three men, burning the two sword-wielders to crisps, and leaving the third lightly burnt, but not overly harmed. However, before the elf could so much as retaliate with a single word, Jaune, with the nonchalance of somebody getting his coffee order wrong, simply waved his hand again, and an Iron Maiden appeared around the man, slamming shut, and cutting his screams off with a loud squelching sound.

"Well, safe to say the Thalmor know about you now, at least a little. Now, Ru-" Jaune then stopped when, after looking towards his shoulder, he realized that Ruby had gotten off his shoulder at some point, and was hiding behind Halva, looking at Jaune like he was a boogieman.

Thoroughly confused, he looked towards Halva, who merely gestured towards the freshly-made corpses, and Jaune finally clued in on what exactly Ruby was thinking.

"Sorry about that Ruby. I forgot you'd never seen...well...death. Sure, you'd killed Grimm before, but not humans, or even anything vaguely humanoid. But, let me tell you right now, those Altmer would not have taken any form of no as an answer. If we beat them back and let them run off, they'd send more, and Ancano would definitely work to capture you in the College, if word gets to him that we managed to turn away three Justiciar Altmer. Doing this, we can hopefully make them believe these guys died somewhere in the wilderness, since those flames will burn them to dust."

When Ruby made no motion to come closer to him, Jaune simply sighed again, turning his attention back towards Halva. "I've already told you what I need to. Use the scroll, keep her safe, and I'll show up when I'm needed. But, for now, I must bid you farewell. And-" Jaune looks down towards Ruby "-I hope to see you again soon."

With that, Jaune threw another scroll at the ground, which engulfed him in black flame, and he vanished without a trace, leaving Halva and Ruby standing there, across from them the three burning piles of ash, being quickly blown away by the winds, leaving no evidence that the Thalmor were even there, aside from the slightly scorched stone.

"So, that was Jaune huh? He's definitely interesting, and a Nightingale under his employ? Guy's got friends in high places if you ask me." Halva started talking lightly, trying to bring Ruby out of her slightly dazed mood. While Halva had killed bandits before, watching a man go from cordial and welcoming to completely unrelenting in a single moment was something that even un-nerved him. He couldn't see himself breaking bread with the man, as magic can't ever really be locked away easily, meaning at any point the man could summon that nasty last contraption he used.

But, what confused Halva most of all was how quickly the man had gone from his cold rage towards those Altmer, and straight back into his more friendly side. He especially noticed the flicker of grief that crossed the man's face when he noticed what he'd done, right in front of his friend. Though, he had no idea what those Grimm he spoke of were. Possibly some kind of creature from their homeland. And, thinking of that, Halva had another dozen questions to add to the pile that was vastly becoming uncontrollable.

Pushing those questions away, Halva simply knelt down next to Ruby, patting her head and drawing her attention away from the now dispersed ash piles and back onto him. "Come on Ruby, we should get moving. If you want we can even use a wagon to travel most of the way, though we'll still have to walk from Windhelm to Winterhold, they charge way too much to go there now with the dragon looming around for toll."

Rolling her eyes at Halva, Ruby threw one last glance at the blackened stone, vividly remembering the moment when they went from standing there, certainly ready for a fight but not yet actually hostile, to being burning corpses on the ground, barely able to even scream before they died. Shuddering at just how quickly Jaune turned cold and analytical and then back to friendly, Ruby put it out of her mind, and tried to focus on other things, warily noting just how much of her old life she had to put on hold to deal with later. And, five years. She wasn't going to even attempt to reconcile herself with the idea that she'd been missing for such a long time. If she did, she knew she'd be stuck forever asking questions that Jaune wouldn't be able to answer.

Then, hopping up onto Halva and settling in for the short walk to the wagon, Ruby let her mind drift to things that were a lot safer to think about. Jaune was here! Of course, Ruby knew he was here at some point, since that chestpiece was identical to his old one, but still! He could have been dead a thousand years, but, no, he was still around. Though Ruby did have to ask him just how long he'd been here, since any time she'd asked, the guards told her that nobody knew how long his chestpiece had been in Dragonsreach. And, while she didn't like the fact it had happened, she was happy that Jaune seemed to not be depressed about Pyrrha dying, though Ruby wished she could have been back in Beacon, maybe she could have done something, anything to save her.

Yet, Jaune also seemed to be a bit more distant than he used to. He was still friendly, and a bit of a goofball, but he was a lot more serious than he used to be. It helped that he was taller, and had lost his boyish face, and picked up a scar or two for his troubles.

Thinking on scars, Ruby suddenly shook her head, realizing she hadn't asked one of the most important things. Aura! Did Jaune have it? Could Ruby re-unlock it? What about her semblance? Then she remembered the fact she had magic now, and it all seemed a bit insignificant. Sure, she loved her semblance, whenever she used it, it felt as though Summer was flying with her in the petals, but, being able to use actual magic, like in that story about the maidens, was a fairy-tale come true. Well, another fairy-tale, since dragons were also kind of a fairy-tale.

And the thought of Dragons drew Ruby to think about the dragon that she saw on that scroll, sitting on Beacon's CCT like it was a toy. Apparently, Dragons weren't just a fairy-tale in Remnant anymore, though that one was far more Grimm than a normal dragon.

Suddenly being jostled, Ruby drew herself out of her thoughts, to see that Halva was climbing up into the back of a wagon, lowering his shoulder to let Ruby hop down onto the bench, before settling in himself when she did so, apparently deep in his own thoughts if the position he took resting his head on his own hands was any indication. Then, reaching into the bag he'd stuffed it onto, Halva turned back to Ruby, who was already batting around with one of the leather strips dangling from the sides of the wagon, clearing his throat to get her attention away from the thoroughly clawed piece of leather, before unravelling the scroll for the both of them to read.

* * *

"It's like Beacon all over again!" Ruby yelled, flopping onto the floor of the wagon with a cry. "I hate you Jaune! I finally escaped it, and you brought it back just so I could suffer like you!" She screamed out, giving Halva a stink-eye when he chuckled at her expense.

"What's Beacon, anyway? Only Beacon I can think of was some Daedric artefact I had to deliver once." Halva said, raising an eyebrow when Ruby simply wrapped herself into a ball, ignoring him entirely, and moaned to herself about something sounding like 'Stupid Oobleck.' "Come on Ruby, at least throw me a bone here. It's not that bad, and Jaune did warn you that this is going to be a lot of Magicka theory work. At least try to understand it."

"You don't get it Halva. Beacon was..." Ruby began, only to bite her own lip as she tried to think about whether she should even tell him that, and wincing when she forgot about her sharp teeth and bit into her own lip, drawing Halva's attention when she yelped, and a long-suffering sigh as she used her magic to heal herself.

Snickering to himself, Halva couldn't help it, and he suddenly said "The way you talk about it, it's like your scared of it!" prompting Ruby to yelp again and glare at him, before sighing again and just tucking her head back in, muttering something about a headache, leaving Halva thoroughly confused about it, since Ruby was usually the first one to pick up on any jokes he tried to make, and laugh at his expense for them. To him, it sounded almost like she was genuinely sad about reminding herself of this 'Beacon'. Considering it only started after they met Jaune, and Ruby said that she would suffer just like Jaune, they both probably did whatever this Beacon thing was, and it was something related to magic or studying it at the very least.

Though thinking on that, it just confused Halva more, since Ruby seemed more than happy to learn magic from Farengar, and the idea to go to Winterhold only needed a small amount of convincing before Ruby was fully on board with the idea, scratching out the idea that Ruby simply hated magical studies. Pushing the question onto the pile, Halva tried a different angle. "So, Ruby, at least tell me you've picked up the basic idea behind Magicka theory from this. I mean, think about how useful it'll be if you can learn this before entering the College. Which, by the way, I won't allow if you can't cast normal-looking magic. I know Farengar said you can cast all the basic spells, but I need to see it for myself. If you walk up to the Arch-mage and summon that armored monstrosity, I'm not responsible for the fallout. You need to at least appear normal to them, alright?"

Twisting her head around, Ruby looked Halva in the eye, and for the first time, Halva could see something Ruby was definitely determined to do correctly, even if she hated it. "Halva, I promise, I will get better at this whole magic thing. Jaune mentioned Akatosh, right? If I get an inkling of that kind of power, then that means there's a chance I can send me and Jaune home. You've probably already put this together, but just in case you haven't, I'll just say it's pretty clear me and Jaune aren't from Tamriel, huh?"

At Halva's nod, Ruby continued quickly. "Well, wherever we came from, we don't know how to get back, so we're both stuck here. Jaune might know some way, but considering how he hasn't taken us back yet, either he doesn't know how, or something is stopping him. So, if I can figure out some way to use that power and get us both home, I'll do it in a heartbeat. I hate the idea that I've been gone for 5 whole years, and I don't want to think about how long it's been, considering Jaune has been here for at least a year, which is kind of confusing, since he knew I was gone, meaning I left 5 years before him and he arrived a year ahead of me, but I'm chalking that up to Time being weird when it comes to things like this and moving on, otherwise my head would explode!"

Without waiting for Halva to even say anything, Ruby turned back away, throwing a final remark over her shoulder.

"If I've been gone that long, I don't care what I have to do to get back to my team. Even if it does involve...What Jaune did."

* * *

**Well, that was a very serious and heavy-handed chapter, huh?**

**Trust me, I don't plan on making this a dark story, I just need to get this kind of stuff out of the way. There will be a few brutal moments later on, but nothing too absurd. And dammit, I want Ruby to just be happy and roll around in the snow and get into playfights with bunny rabbits.**

**Next Chapter ETA: 3rd of July**


	8. Chapter 8

**Phew, 30,000+ words already? Feels like only a week ago I started writing these things!**

**Now, on with ****the chapter!**

_**Chapter 8**_

* * *

Wiping the sweat from her brow, Gilfre gazed down the road, towards Windhelm, thinking about the young lads who gave up their nice, safe, stable jobs here with her at the mill to go and fight in some useless war, all while leaving her there to work alone. Of course, the irony of the whole situation was not lost on her. Drain enough manpower from the mills who chop the trees into workable wood for arrows, and the men run out of them entirely. Or empty the iron mines of able-bodied miners for the war effort, and new swords can't be made, chuckling to herself at the thought of those men arriving to join the war, only to realize they don't even have any iron or wood for weapons and ammunition.

But, her chuckling was cut off as an explosion sounded off to the south, towards Fort Amol. Scanning the road, the female lumberjack could make out two forms sat at the side of the road, a cloud of blue smoke rising above them. One was a normal looking, if heavily armored, man, well armed for the area and clearly relaxed yet ready. However, his other companion was rather peculiar, and the old woman rubbed her eyes, sure she must be seeing things. But, after the third try to clear her vision, she had to accept that she was, in fact, looking at a small dragon.

She'd seen then flying around before, one even flew down the valley her mill was sat in once, though it was apparently far more interested in another target, rather than her small mill. But, from everything she'd heard and seen, the dragons that had come back were basically mindless beasts who would just kill and burn, only being stopped when that Dragonborn fellow put them down permanently.

Apparently, this one was either smart enough to do more than just kill or somehow that man managed to tame it. Maybe he used magic. Though, looking between the dragon and the man, it was clear he was entirely comfortable in the dragon's presence, as he didn't even have a hand near his weapon, seemingly too busy with a piece of parchment to even spare a glance towards his companion, who seemed to be concentrating on something.

Mustering her courage, and internally laughing at herself for the thought of willingly approaching a dragon, no matter how small, Gilfre began walking towards the pair, keeping her hand a good distance from the Iron Dagger on her hip, knowing it would do very little against a dragon, not to mention the man sat beside it, who was clearly far more experienced in combat than the average Joe.

Only to have to raise an eyebrow as a blue light began emitting in front of the dragon, causing the man to glance over to it, and Gilfre to stop mid-step about 30 paces away to watch as this blue orb rose up, then began forming into an arrow shape, before losing it's shaping and exploding spectacularly in another large cloud of blue smoke and a thunderclap explosion.

But what really surprised Gilfre was that, when turning her focus back on the dragon, said dragon was growling initially, but then it spoke. Actually spoke to the man, using human language.

"Halva! Why is this so difficult? Damn it, I was promised awesome magical abilities, and I can't even make an arrow!" The little red dragon yelled with a bizarrely high-pitched voice towards the man, Halva apparently, who simply shrugged and chuckled to himself while he retorted.

"Maybe you're concentrating on it too much?" And then sighing when it was clear the dragon didn't have a clue why that would be. "Ruby, think of it like this. If you think about something too much, you're more liable to overcorrect something, and then oversteer in trying to fix the problem, and it'll feedback into itself until it goes off the road. Same idea for this maybe? Perhaps you should relax a bit, and let the magic form itself. Give it vague directions to form into the shape, but don't try to push it to take form. You don't need to concentrate so much on the shape of the arrow, otherwise, when your mind says it's incorrect, the arrow will lose its form, which isn't something you'll want happening in a pitched battle."

Releasing a noise of understanding, the miniature dragon went back to her, apparently, magical studies, leaving the man to finally notice the Nord woman staring at them both with confusion, fear, and a bit of mirth at the idea of a dragon being lectured about magic by a human.

"Oh, hello there! Sorry if the explosions drew your attention, my partner over there is trying to use magic, and it's going about as well as you can expect. Just as a hint the explosions aren't the side-effect we're looking for, though that could be useful in combat. Huh, there's a thought to test, maybe intentionally de-stabilizing the arrow at a certain point could be handy to do. Well, whatever. I'm Halva, that's Ruby, might I ask your name?" The man said, extending a gauntlet towards her with an easy-going smile on his face, which, after a moment of apprehension, the woman took firmly.

"That's fine. The explosions did draw me in, but only because I feared that some of the bandits from Amol were doing something stupid. I'm Gilfre, I run the Mill over there," She said, jacking a thumb over her shoulder to point back towards said mill, before turning her focus onto the dragon, Ruby. "though I can't say I was expecting a dragon casting magic to be the cause of said explosions. If you don't mind, why are you even travelling with a dragon? I mean, it's pretty obvious your dragon isn't interested in attacking you, but it's still a strange sight, one I'm sure hasn't ever been seen before."

Chuckling, Halva turned his attention back to Ruby, smiling to himself as he watched her form another ball of magic, but focusing far less on said ball, and more on just letting her Magicka flow into shape. "Well, since I saved her from being trapped in a dragon tomb, she's kind of been stuck to me like glue." He then turned back to the Woman, face hard as iron. "Then again, she had nowhere else to go, she isn't from Tamriel, has no ties to the dragons here, she'd probably be hunted just for being a dragon, and she seems pretty happy to be in my presence, if the repeated attempts to climb back onto my shoulder were any indication." Halva said, chucking when Ruby let out a squawk and hopped away from her position near his shoulder, clearly planning on gliding over to watch over his shoulder.

"Was not! I just wanted to make you turn around and actually look at me! Well, not me really, but above me!" Ruby yelled excitedly, giggling to herself when Halva turned and abruptly stopped mid-retort, noting his surprise at the ballista-bolt sized arrow currently floating above them. "Best part is I don't even have to think that much for it to do what I want. Watch!" Ruby yelled, mentally controlling the arrow and directing it to slam itself into the dirt a good distance away, watching as it flew faster than a regular arrow and embedded itself deeply in the ground with a loud but dull boom.

All the while said dragon watched carefully for the reactions of the lumberjack who showed up, noting her unrestricted surprise and fear of a dragon summoning such a weapon seemingly at will. And yelping when said woman turned her gaze towards her, making Ruby finally notice the iron dagger at her hip and quickly hopping behind Halva, who played the role of calming Ruby down masterfully. "Ruby, don't worry so much. Do you really think someone would be stupid enough to attack you after seeing that? Most people just carry knives for self-defence and as tools. You should know that! Practically everyone in Whiterun carried at least a single dagger." Halva said, rolling his eyes when Ruby stuck her tongue out at him, all the while Gilfre watched the pair of them banter with each other and trying to make herself relax in the presence of the clearly friendly, if a bit excitable, dragon.

Clapping her hands together, the woman drew both of their attention to herself, jerking her thumb back towards her mill again, with a smile on her face. "You know, if you two are planning on staying in this area for tonight, I do have a spare bunkhouse which isn't being used. All the workers decided they'd prefer being soldiers, it'd be more interesting to them I guess, and they all ran off towards Windhelm and Solitude to join the different armies. Brutes." She said, shaking her head and, when Ruby wrapped her head around Halva's neck and whispering in his ear, raising an eyebrow at the intimate action.

Nodding at his companion, Halva turned towards Gilfre with an easygoing smile on his face. "Sure, we'd prefer it to another night sleeping on the ground. We've got our own food, so no need to worry about feeding us, we just need somewhere to bed down, so if it's not too much trouble, I think we'll both be happy to take you up on your offer." He said easily, grabbing up their few bags and gesturing for Gilfre to lead the way, following along behind her while Ruby remained perched on his shoulder, both the fact that it meant she could relax, but also the height advantage, letting her see further than if she were on the floor.

"So...if I may, why are you two heading up this way? Unless you're going to Windhelm or Winterhold, very few people use this road, takes them too close to the bandit-held fortress up there." Gilfre said, gesturing with a hand back in the direction of Fort Amol. "Though those bandits aren't exactly competent, they don't even try to take 'tribute'. They just swing their swords at anybody that shows up there to try and take the fort and steal livestock from the nearby farms. Honestly, Skyrim's going mad if you ask me. First, the King is killed in a duel, then the weapon used was called into question, and, without anybody really being the wiser, one thing leads to another and a civil war starts!"

Chuckling, Halva gestures at Ruby on his shoulder. "Well, Ruby here is pretty good with magic, despite the explosions you saw, so we're heading up towards the College so she can learn a bit more and see about controlling it better. I'm also a fairly adept mage, and while I prefer swinging a sword to using magic, some of the general utility magic schools are very useful. After having to swim through so many rivers and lakes, I almost kissed the Court Wizard of Whiterun when he taught me how to flash-dry clothing using magic."

"Of course, combat magic is also awesome!" Ruby chipped in from his shoulder, warming up quickly to the woman who was offering them somewhere actually comfortable to sleep. "I mean, casting lightning from your fingers, and throwing fireballs, it's like living in a fairy-tale. Where I came from, nobody had proper magic, everybody was limited to one singular and mostly unique spell. But, they made up for it by being absurdly hard to kill, but the point still stands. I'd gladly trade that for being able to cast a light whenever I wanted, or freeze people who tried to attack me."

Chuckling, Gilfre threw a quick smirk towards Ruby. "Oh just wait until you see the College for yourself. I went up there once, and some of the magic they can pull off makes even Daedra run scared. And from how you were using your own magic, you definitely seem like you'll fit in up there! Though don't take this the wrong way Halva, but you don't look like much of a magician. Mostly the armor talking there, but that's just how it is, people don't see mages wearing heavy armor often, so they feel confident labelling anyone with heavy armor as somebody who can't cast much magic. It's strange, but I imagine you could use that to your advantage one day."

Halva let out a hearty laugh, wiping his eyes with a hand. "Oh, don't worry, I've already pulled that trick before. A group of bandits thought they could take me on if they just kept out of range of my weapon and peppered me with their own magic and arrows. Then I froze one of them in place. The look on his face when he looked down and realized his feet were stuck in ice was something I'll never forget, it was incredible."

Nodding along, Gilfre gestured a hand towards one of the approaching buildings. "Well, that's yours for the night. Try not to burn it down, eh? Now, if you don't mind, I have to get back to chopping this wood. Talos only knows how I'm going to manage once these logs run out."

Rubbing his chin, Halva suddenly punched his fist into his palm, leading Gilfre to turn around and look back at him with a raised eyebrow. "Well, we can help with that, at least a little. I can cut down and haul some logs for you, and Ruby can...uhh...Ruby can keep an eye out for wildlife and bandits!"

"Pwwsh, I can do that easily. How about I go and forage for some plants? I know you wanted to bring your alchemy stuff with you, so if I go hunt down some stuff for you to work on, then when we get to Winterhold you won't drive yourself up a wall in the off-time between magical lessons and whatnot. Sound good?" Ruby said expectantly.

Staring at Ruby for a long moment, Halva simply shrugged, gesturing towards the forest. "Well, as long as you remember the rules and don't wander too far. Try not to ruin the plants too much dragging them back here. And leave them outside the door! I don't want to have to sweep up after ourselves because of you tracking a pound of dirt in with the plants.

* * *

Later that evening, Ruby and Halva were settling in for the night. Ruby had taken the warmest spot in the room, right in the middle of the fire, surprising Gilfre when she came around to make sure they hadn't vanished and couldn't see Ruby in the fire, whereas Halva was setting himself up in one of the beds, going over the scroll Jaune gave to them one more time before rolling it up and lying down.

But, before he could get any sleep, a strange rumbling sound could be heard. Snapping up from his position to being sat up, Halva glanced around, before his eyes settled on Ruby's sleeping form, still in the now diminishing fire, and the source of said sound.

"Ruby?" He asked quietly, to no response.

He got up and walked carefully over to Ruby, chuckling when she shifted and the purring sound increased in volume. "Ruby?" He said a bit more forcibly, but unable to be heard over the gentle crackling of the wood. Picking up a fire-poker, Halva gently used it to shake Ruby, who woke up slowly, rolling her head around lazily and gazing up through half-slitted eyes towards Halva, who just smirked at her.

"Heya Halva, what time is it?" She asked sleepily, suppressing a yawn.

"It's still evening, but you were purring." He said, going from a chuckle to a full-blown laugh when Ruby turned as red as the embers beneath her. At least, as red as her already-red scales would allow that is.

"I was not purring! Tell me I wasn't, please?!" She practically yelled at him, trying to make him listen through his wheezing laughter.

"I c-an't tell you a lie, sor-sorry Ruby" Halva said, trying to get the words out through his laughter. "A purring dragon. That's absolutely priceless."

Ruby just grumbled to herself, rolling up in a ball and murmuring "I'm a dragon, not a kitten." and causing another round of bellowing laughter to erupt from Halva.

"A dragon-kitten! Oh, thank you Ruby, that was a great laugh. Oh wow." Stifling another laugh, Halva turned away from Ruby to recompose himself, then turned back, and tried his hardest to talk without laughing again. "By the way, I know Jaune told you this, but I feel like telling you again will help. You need to make your magic look less...well...unique than it is. I mean, if your familiar is any indication, most of your magic is capable of being incredibly impressive, which is what we want to avoid. A good example, your ballista-spell from earlier was pretty good for appearing pretty normal, but in practice is devastating, possibly stronger than most other magic despite being so simple. So, if they need you to demonstrate magical ability before entering the College, I'd say you should use that if we can't get anything else working in time. Just using a flame spell isn't going to be enough to impress whoever is in charge of letting us in, so using something distinctive and powerful like that would be a pretty surefire way to gain entry."

Nodding along, Ruby quirked her head at the last point, bring it up quickly. "But Halva, if I use it, won't the College immediately spread word of something like that?"

"Not exactly. All you need to do is scale down the amount of Magicka you put into the bolt and shape it as a smaller bolt accordingly, and you could play it off as some kind of Magic Arrow maybe. I know a conjuration spell that makes a Spectral arrow, maybe you found a way to manifest said spell as a physical arrow instead. It'd show your scholarly ability to modify an existing spell, something only advanced mages can attempt, let alone succeed. And at the same time, it'd also demonstrate your aptitude for Conjuration, granting you an excellent excuse for focusing on the Conjuration school of magic. I don't care what you say, you are definitely strongest in Conjuration if your, what was it, Arma Gigas?" Ruby nodded quickly, still unhappy about having to hide her skill. "Yeah, If that armor was any indication, you are definitely slated for Conjuration."

Before Ruby could begin to argue about it, Halva continued, raising his hand to forestall any arguments. "Now, that isn't to say you can't study all the schools of magic. You may find spells in all the schools of magic which you want to learn, and if you can do so successfully and without forgetting important parts to the spells, then go right ahead, but I want you to focus on working on your conjuration. Now-" Halva punctuated with a stretch and a yawn, "-It's late, and we need to get moving early tomorrow. So, please just think on what I said, and I'll see you tomorrow Ruby."

Ruby only hummed at him, turning her head away and casting a small fire spell to keep the fire going, to which Halva just shook his head and rolled over onto his bed, quickly falling asleep. Leaving Ruby to chuckle very quietly when she heard his breathing even out.

While Halva was trying to tell her what to do and how she should make her ballista-bolt smaller, Ruby had a thought. What if she could just scale her summon up and down? Surely a foot high Arma Gigas is way less intimidating than a 10 foot tall one, right? Maybe if she showed the college that instead, she could then actually show off the full-size one when she pretended to learn how to manipulate her conjuration abilities. Plus, being able to conjure a miniature suit of ethereal armor has to be better than essentially a rod of solid magicka.

And, if the tiny little soldier currently hiding in the nook she created when she curled up was any indication, she'd struck gold. And just thinking about the surprise on Halva's face when she made this little guy appear for her test was worth every moment of misleading him.

This was going to be awesome!

* * *

**Well, that's a wrap for today!**

**Now, I'm curious, so please humor me. What do you guys think of the way I'm interpreting Ruby's control of Magicka? Since it does kind of spit in the face of established spell-casting and is a bit more free-form than usual at least in terms of actual usage, but I want to know whether you guys like it?**

**So, if you want to, please leave a review telling me your opinions on it, or even just the story in general. What you like, what you hate, what you really think should have been done differently, all are welcome! Just try to keep it constructive. Don't just say "I don't like it.", it doesn't help!**

**Next Chapter ETA: 5th of July - UPDATE: Going to be on the 7th instead. I didn't work o nthe chapter until late and so it's not finished, and I don't want to rush it, nor upload on the same day as Watching Rose, so it'll be going out on Sunday instead. Apologies for the delay!**


	9. Chapter 9

**Phew, chapter 9 is apparently when my wind runs out of my sails somewhat. Woke up on friday, and my first thoughts were of writing this. And then I got distracted with doing things in one of my games and then distracted again by other things like teeth-pains, all the while this got completely forgotten until I realized 1 pm had passed and I still hadn't written a word of fanfiction for that day's chapter, when usually this would have been finished and uploaded by about mid-day (GMT just as an FYI.)**

**I don't plan on slowing down too much, before anybody fears that this fanfiction will end up like Watching Rose, one chapter a week is pretty slow. I may re-work when I do uploads to a 2-day gap, so Monday, Thursday, Sunday, Wednesday, Saturday, Tuesday, Friday, and then repeat back on Monday, so seven chapters in three weeks rather than seven in two.**

**Oh, also, this chapter has mild fighting, and some pretty detailed descriptions of combat. You have been warned!**

**But, enough of that, on with the chapter...**

_**Chapter 9**_

* * *

"Don't forget to stop by sometime, I could use your help again!" Gilfre called out to the pair, as they began their trek from the Mill after a good nights rest on comfortable bedding, and on with their journey.

Waving back to the old woman who gave them lodging, Halva rolled his shoulders to make sure his bags were firmly secured still and extended his arm out for Ruby to glide onto, watching as she daintily landed and walked along his arm to nest atop his shoulder, head resting atop his helmet lazily, while her tail draped itself under his armpit and back around onto her own body. "You know, I'm sure your tail wasn't long enough to do that before, are you growing?" Halva said with a smirk, whilst Ruby twisted and turned her head, trying to get a better look at her tail, which was twitching in anticipation.

"You know, I think it has. Cool! I hate being this tiny. I mean, it's useful, and people don't expect much of me, but it's still annoying!" The Crimsonette said with a yell and a smile. "You know, I never was this tiny. I mean, I was, but years and years ago when I was a baby. It's weird being this small again!" She said with a huff, wrapping her tail back up and around herself, excitedly waggling it around in front of her.

Halva pondered this for a second, rubbing his chin thoughtfully, tuning out what Ruby was saying, and thinking back to the vision Jaune showed him, trying to piece it together. Maybe Ruby wasn't, in fact, a member of that team, but was the pet to the other member of the team, and they were separated at the same time. Though, knuckling his eyes in thought, that still brought up more questions, ones that only Ruby could answer, and she was no more open about her past than she had to be. But, the biggest one, and one that Halva simply couldn't leave un-addressed, leapt from his mouth before he could even consider stopping it.

"Ruby, something keeps bugging me. Jaune showed me an illusion of where you came from and your team. But he didn't elaborate on any of it, and I can't help it, but I'm curious about it now. I know you won't want to talk about any of it, but I still want to know. but, the biggest question is just...how did you get from there to here? I know what I saw isn't anywhere on Tamriel, so it's even more obvious than before that you both came from elsewhere on Nirn, but, surely even if you don't wish to talk about your past, telling me how you got here is something you can do?" Halva asked hopefully, only to be dismayed and slightly angered as Ruby shook her head slowly, though his anger vanished into confusion when she responded to him.

"Look Halva, I don't even know that. One minute I was doing stuff like normal, the next I was waking up in a pitch-black room and very quickly being busted out by you, then thrown into Whiterun and having Jaune show up suddenly not a few weeks later, then whisked off towards Winterhold without so much as a minute to actually catch up with him! So, I'm sorry, but I can't even tell you how I got here, and I don't want to talk about home, considering that, with what Jaune said, all my friends and family might be old and grey or even dead, by the time I get back to them!" She screamed at him, hopping off of his shoulder and just walking alongside him, pointedly looking ahead and not towards him.

Thinking over all his words, Halva did a double-take when he realized that Ruby had mentioned family. But, dragons didn't age, so how could they get old and grey was a mystery to Halva, who settled for her maybe considering her owner and team as her family, and Jaune and his team possibly being seen as friends.

Putting it out of his mind, Halva decided to steer the subject to their destination, figuring it'd be a good idea.

"So Ruby, what's your thoughts on the College so far?" He said, smoothly trying to get Ruby to at least keep talking with him, he'd spent enough time just walking silently through Skyrim, and had no intentions of doing more of the same.

Which saddened him when he saw that Ruby was resolutely uninterested in talking to him, simply shrugging her shoulders and continuing on the road, a non-committal sound coming from her throat. With a sigh, he tacked on, "Well, how about your magic? Do you reckon you can actually scale down your ballista-spell thing to a reasonable level?

Twisting her head around, Ruby turned to give him a flat stare, before huffing and, with a wave of her wing, revealed a small arrow hovering next to her, and smirking at his astonished face. "I didn't just summon that either, it's been there since I got off you. I don't have to create a massive explosion of magic to make these things appear anymore, I can just form the magicka straight from my body, rather than gathering it up and throwing it out of my hand. Err, paw-claws-WHATEVER!" She finished with a yell, while Halva just looked at her in amusement and astonishment combined.

"Alright, so you got the size down, and I can assume you've managed to make it less powerful as a result?" He inquired, raising an eyebrow when Ruby shook her head.

"Halva, buddy, that wasn't power from the magic in that bolt when it hit the ground, that was just from the mass of the whole thing. Since the bolt is now arrow sized, it'd have the same impact as a regular arrow. I don't want to even approach trying to mix destruction and conjuration magic, not until we're in the College and someone can tell me when I'm doing something dumb. I may normally be pretty gung-ho, especially involving explosions, but I don't exactly want to summon a ballista-bolt, and level half of Skyrim by screwing something up and causing a perpetuating loop." She said, shaking her head at Halva's completely lost expression.

"I don't see exactly how you'd be able to level half of Skyrim, but I'll just trust you on that and leave it there." He said, even more confused when Ruby face-winged at him.

"Halva, it was sarcasm. Though considering what Jaune said it might be possible. Better safe than sorry, and I don't want to have to repay the College if I accidentally blow up the Conjuration wing with my magic. Now, if we're done playing 20 questions, I believe we're being expected by somebody." The little dragon said, gesturing with a wing at the trio of Stormcloak soldiers who were warily eyeing them from their positions down the road.

"Huh. I don't recall any reasons why Stormcloaks would be waiting for us. Maybe they need something?" Halva stated, ignoring Ruby's rolled eyes and instead focusing his attention on the men in front of him, as well as his surroundings. The roads leading to Windhelm from Mixwater Mill were flanked on one side by high mountains, with plenty of large boulders and rocks to set ambushes up from, whilst the other side was a straight drop down to the river, a climb nobody without adequate training and planning could possibly climb. All in all, not a smart place for an ambush, as one side was entirely unusable, so it was likely they weren't planning on actually fighting them.

Focusing his attention away from his searching and back to the men, he noted that the men, whilst like many in Skyrim were still ready for a fight, they didn't have their hands on their weapons. Indeed, one of the men even had his helmet off, exposing his face to them.

He was rather young, with a boyish face, and a uniform slightly too large for him, though he was still wearing it with pride. His sword hung at his side, his hand not straying too far from it, but nor was he poised to draw the weapon, showing trust towards them that they would not attack unprompted. His companions were much the same, though the helmets they wore obscured their faces from view. All the more to impose the image of a never-ending horde of faceless Nord Warriors upon the Imperials.

Shaking his head at himself, Halva calmly and cautiously walked towards the boy, his own hand staying near his weapon, whilst in his other, he silently prepared to wreath himself in lightning. Glancing to his side, he saw that Ruby was hiding an arrow under her wing, aimed at one of the other soldiers, leaving the one without a helmet for Halva if it came to a fight.

"Well met friend!" Halva called when they got close enough to be reasonably addressed, waving his hand towards the Stormcloak in a welcoming gesture. "What business would you have with us today?" He asked, quirking an eyebrow when the Stormcloak took on a rather surprising demeanour.

"W-What business we have? I'm sorry, but we're here simply to patrol these roads and sweep for Imperial spies. We have no explicit business with one such as yourself Dragonborn, nor the company you keep." The man gestured towards Ruby at this, quickly backtracking when she growled quietly at him. "N-No offense meant. It's just that...Dragons aren't exactly friendly, and to see one just walking down the road, it's a mite bit suspicious."

Nodding, Halva waved his hand towards Ruby, warding her off from getting closer to the Stormcloaks, whilst at the same time giving her a pointed look to keep calm about whatever those Stormcloaks might say. Huffing to herself, Ruby turned away from him, giving one final glare and snort towards the lead Stormcloak, who visibly paled, before turning away to keep an eye out while Halva did his diplomacy, but not before muttering 'Just because I'm different' to herself, being overheard by Halva who just shrugged.

"Now, normally we'd be forced to ask you to let us search your belongings, to ensure you aren't an Imperial Spy trying to slip messages through our lines to other spies, but I think that the Dragonborn himself probably qualifies as an exceptional person, even more so considering your neutrality in the war. I assume you won't let me try to convince you to take part on our side?" The unhelmed Stormcloak added, a slight hopeful look in his eyes, though he already knew the answer as the Dragonborn simply shook his head with a wistful smile.

"Sorry, but it's not my fight, and anyway, having somebody like me being in the command of anybody else would grant them the ability to wield great and terrible power, something which must be avoided at all costs. There's a reason I only work in the companions, because nobody can order me to do anything, nobody is truly above anybody else."

Smiling sadly at the Dragonborn, the Stormcloak then turned his attention to the small red dragon by his side, who was at that moment observing the mounting to their side closely, spending time scanning each and every location carefully, and paying zero attention to their discussion.

"Well, it's safe to say that your companion wouldn't be an Imperial Spy, and even if they were, they'd be too small to hide any reasonably-sized message on." He said, before stepping back when Ruby raised her wing, revealing the arrow hovering there, whilst Halva smirked at the wary Stormcloak.

"I wouldn't be sure she can't hide anything, that arrow has been there since we saw you, but of course, now that you've seen the underside of her wings, now you can be sure there's nowhere else to hide a message." He said, smiling towards the Stormcloaks who were steadily backing away from the dragon.

"T-That's alright. Well, you're almost definitely not Imperial Spies, so we can let you pass by unhindered. Well met Dragonborn, I hope your travels are light, and may Talos light your path!" The Stormcloak announced, clasping a hand over his heart and speaking in clear defiance to the White-Gold Concordat.

"And to you good sir. Ruby, come on, let us be on our way." Halva said smoothly, walking briskly past the other Stormcloaks in his way, watching as they stepped back to either side of the path to allow Ruby to pass as far from them as possible, chuckling when she growled a little at them as she passed, before assimilating her magic back into herself and walking quickly away from them, speeding up and hopping up, with a little assistance from her wings, to glide over to Halva's shoulder, apparently forgetting the earlier reason for even leaving his side.

"Hmph. Are all those guys like that? They didn't exactly seem friendly." Ruby asked, throwing a glance back towards the Stormcloaks, who were now huddled in a group and talking with each other.

"What do you expect? Skyrim's in the middle of a Civil War, of course they're going to be suspicious, especially when there's a dragon involved. Dragons and War are currently the two big events going on, so that's worth double the suspicion. Until word can spread about you, anyone who sees you is just going to be suspicious. Though I don't expect anybody to be stupid enough to attack a dragon, and the Dragonborn, at the same time, there are some people desperate enough to attack anybody, even when it's clear they're outmatched. I once heard a story about how a group of bandits thought that attacking the Ebony Warrior was a good idea, and then they promptly got destroyed by him. Some people aren't exactly smart about picking their fights, and it shows. Though I always wondered just how Skyrim isn't a desolate wasteland with the amount of people around who just murder everyone they see."

With a sigh, Halva then turned his attention towards the approaching City. The road they'd been following was set to take them straight past Windhelm, and he considered stopping in town, but between the fact that he'd have to explain what Ruby was to even get passage, and that they'd already had a comfortable rest at Mixwater Mill, he decided that bypassing the City would be easiest. Plus, if the current rumors are to be believed, there was a murderer loose inside the city, killing indiscriminately, and Halva didn't want to dip so much as a pinky into that pond. Knowing his luck, it'd end up spiralling out of control and coming to a head pitting him against another damned Daedra.

Ruby, on the other hand, seemed in awe of the quickly approaching city, glancing around at the massive stone buildings, and letting her attention be drawn between the towering Palace of the Kings, and the shorter, but still impressive, general buildings surrounding said Palace.

"Halva..." Ruby started, jolted when Halva immediately shook his head and began walking to the left, going straight away from the city, not even taking a single step towards the bridge leading in that direction. "Aww. I wanted to go in there, look at that massive hall!"

"Ruby, even if we went in, the chances of actually getting permission to enter the Palace of the Kings is basically zero." Halva said quickly, hoping to dissuade Ruby from trying to convince him.

And if the wide eyes visible on Ruby were any indication, he managed it. "W-WAIT WHAT? That's a Palace? Like, the place a King lives? We had a King of the city I lived in after the Great War, but they turned it into a council and tore down the old Palace to build their own chambers, it sucks. Everyone who had seen the palace always spoke like it was the embodiment of royalty or something. I guess it'd have to be for a King to live there. But, THAT'S A PALACE?" She finished with a yell.

"Yes Ruby, that is a Palace. I'm guessing you imagined it to be more regal, but Nords aren't much for lavish displays. It's made from cold, hard stone, better to weather the harsh winds and cold. I mean, you've seen Dragonsreach. Places like that aren't built to look incredible, they're built to be safe and comfortable. A true Nord would much rather be safe and comfortable than look better than his peers. Not to say Dragonsreach isn't a beautiful piece of construction, but the point is on usability, not looking good."

Huffing, Ruby turned away from the City, apparently disinterested in the City entirely now, muttering to herself, whilst Halva just smiled and continued on his path, rolling his shoulders occasionally to ease the ache his pack was now giving him.

"This is going to be a long walk." Halva said to nobody in particular.

* * *

As the sun set on Skyrim, unbeknownst to the two travellers, a group of men were watching and waiting, picking out positions and preparing weaponry for their attack.

"Alright lads, you know the drill! Just 'cos there's a little dragon down there don't mean we can't just kill it. I'm sure a few lads around would be right happy with a dragonskin hat!" The leader yelled out, rallying his men and corraling them into position.

Meanwhile, a figure was watching the watchers, a wry grin on their face. "The things I do for you Jaune." The figure said, before preparing their own weaponry, and observing the bandits. Many of them had simple iron weaponry and hide armor, whilst the leader had a proper steel warhammer and heavier steel armor, with a horned helmet adorning his head. The figure picked him out of the others as the biggest threat, and as such the one to kill first.

Crouched down in their ambush positions, not a single bandit had realized that they were being stalked until, just when the leader was about to give the order to attack, a loud gurgling sound drew their attention, to see their now head-less leader fall to the ground, and a figure, draped entirely in black, with a black bow on their back and twin daggers in hand, stepped out from the darkness, before waving their hand.

And all the bandits could think after that moment was 'KILL! KILL! KILL!', and the entire ambush group erupted into an orgy of violence. Bandits who once shared drinks over campfires were now bisecting friends, cutting each other's bodies apart into ribbons, all while the figure stood amidst them just watched, apparently unafflicted by whatever magic they'd cast, occasionally and casually side-stepping an over-zealous bandit and neatly dismembering them.

Hearing the sounds of combat, Ruby and Halva were ready for the first of the bandits to stream over the hill, apparently deciding that fighting others was preferable to fighting their friends. These bandits were the stronger-willed ones but were still unable to completely resist the urge to rend friend and foe asunder. Only a small handful were actually capable of ignoring the urge to kill those who ran with them for longer than a few moments, but they managed to hold the urge at bay and get to their intended targets before releasing their frenzy.

However, what the bandits hadn't considered was that a dragon was not vulnerable just because it was child-sized. Dissipating her hidden emergency arrow, Ruby began forming her full-sized ballista bolt, whilst Halva stood, two-handed sword at the ready, watching calmly as the poorly-equipped and frenzied bandits sprinted full-force towards him, holding his sword point-first like a pike to protect from the charging men.

Then, just as quickly as they appeared, the bandits vanished with a loud boom and a giant cloud of snow and dirt, as the ballista-bolt flew from its position above Ruby, smashing into the ground at high velocity, killing any too close to the impact, and staggering all others with the sheer force of impact. Their moment of lost footing was enough to allow Halva the chance to barrel forwards and impale the first bandit atop his sword, swinging himself around the bandit and throwing his corpse at another bandit, casting them both to the floor with the force of the throw, trapping the living bandit under his dead comrade, running his sword down through the corpse to finish off the trapped bandit.

Halva then jerked his head to the side, as a sword broke the cloud surrounding the mand entering the place his head had been, ducking around the follow-up swing and lashing out in the direction the sword had come from, feeling resistance and applying enough force to slice his attacker in half entirely.

Before he could get his bearings again, Halva watched as an arrow flew towards him, smacking against his armor and embedding itself in his shoulder-plate, not harming him much but hindering his movement, allowing another bandit to close the distance with daggers and begin a scathing combination of slashes, stabs, and even throwing his daggers and pulling more from his harness, trying to break through Halva's guard and get a blade into a weak point of his armor. After a rather awkward side-step from Halva causing him to lose balance, the bandit ducked in, swiftly slicing through one of the leather straps holding his chestplate together, attempting to remove the armor and expose him to a follow-up stab.

Though, that was as far as the bandit got, as a red blur thundered through the cloud, smashing into the knife-bandits head and knocking him out, sending him rolling along the floor, while Ruby used her wings to correct herself, landing near a corpse and ducking behind it when the archer bandit attempted to shoot her with an arrow.

Throwing a quick glance around, Halva noted that the archer was the last bandit left capable of fighting, the others had either been killed or knocked unconscious by Ruby's ballista bolt, or killed by Halva himself. Grabbing up one of the daggers the knife-wielder had thrown, Halva quickly cast it towards the archer, bouncing off his armor, but distracting him long enough to quickly close the distance and run him through with his weapon, driving him backwards with the force of his charge and sliding him off the weapon when Halva stopped suddenly, momentum carrying his now dead body backwards and onto the floor.

Double-checking their surroundings, Halva then turned his attention to his companion, noting happily that she looked no worse for wear, apparently staying out of the combat for much of the battle, only interfering when Halva needed an opening on the knife-bandit, or, Halva spotted with a mixture of joy and worry, picking off bandits on the outskirts, if the fading arrows embedded in the bodies was any indication.

Ruby had seemingly not quite processed the fact that she'd just killed at least a half-dozen bandits in the span of a few minutes, decidedly pushing that thought away for later and focusing on the diminishing sounds of combat coming from where the bandits had fled. Curiosity getting the better of her, she hopped her way up the hill and was surprised to see a very small group of bandits apparently fighting with thin air, though looking closer she could make out a shimmering in the air, indicating an invisible foe. There were also scattered corpses around, though they had far too many different types of wounds to all be caused by a singular fighter.

Halva had, at this point, caught up with her, and pointedly stood in front of Ruby, keeping his eye on the fight, but not interfering. Watching the fight, it was clear that whoever this invisible combatant was, they were clearly far better than the few bandits left alive, neatly moving from parrying one swing, to darting across the group and throwing a riposte in the face of another bandit, before moving back before the first bandit could properly recover to finish him off, then moving on to the next, never stopping to take stock of the situation or re-balance themselves. Halva imagined, with a smirk on his face, that if this person were not invisible, they'd likely look like they were dancing. A dance of death, to be sure, but no less mesmerizing.

Quickly finishing off the last bandits, the figure turned towards them, or it appeared to be so, since telling what way a vague shimmering shape is facing is rather difficult, though they both couldn't mistake the waving the figure was doing towards them, before it spun again and quickly vanished into the distance, leaving the pair to just stare, and wonder what the hell they just got in the middle of.

"Well, that was something."

* * *

**Okay, that's chapter 9 wrapped up. I kind of enjoyed writing that fight scene, though don't expect many truly detailed fights to happen, I don't really like writing them, it just feels like I'm writing it terribly.**

**I'm sorry about missing Friday, but, as I said at the top authors note, I'll probably slow this story down a tad, since I'll be writing longer Watching Rose chapters now, and I feel like 3.5k chapters for this is pretty good, and don't want to shorten them, so I'll be doing them every 3 days, so a 2-day break between writing them.**

**Though, I have to say, thanks for the support! It's truly awesome when people compliment your work, and it's a feeling I never expected to feel for myself! Just a final question, someone asked me whether Ruby is a true Dragon or a Wyvern, and I'm not sure which I'd prefer. Canonically she should be a Wyvern, since 'Dragons' in Skyrim are only two-legged, but I prefer the image of Ruby having all 4 legs, and her wings, rather than just two. What do you guys think? Ignore canon dragons and give her 4 limbs, or keep her closer to canon but she'd only have two legs, not 4. I will address it if she does have 4 limbs, but if not I'll leave it as it is.**

**Next Chapter: 10th of July.**


	10. Chapter 10

**Hello everybody! So, thanks for the responses to the authors note thing I did, and the responses to the new story are pretty awesome, so, just thanks I guess!**

**I would recommend checking out Alagaesian Anomaly if you like Dragon-Ruby, it's pretty much the same thing as this story but in Inheritance Cycle instead of Skyrim.**

**Well, on with the chapter...**

_**Chapter 10**_

* * *

"Do you have...any idea...whatsoever of what just happened, Halva?" Ruby asked, her head going to and fro across the scattered remnants of the bandits, occasionally stopping to inspect particularly brutalized bandits with revulsion.

Rubbing his chin, Halva made no attempts to move from his perch atop a nearby rock, nor answer Ruby's question, much to her chagrin. Instead, he remained stationary, apparently puzzling over some unknown riddle.

Hearing him to his thoughts, Ruby went back to her own riddle. Namely, why the hell Jaune's Nightingale was out here in the middle of nowhere...unless-

Halva finally had his attention drawn when Ruby let out a small gasp, followed by a little hop of joy, watching with a slight smile as she barreled over to him, having finally figured it out.

"Hey Halva! Jaune sent that Nightingale to watch over us! Not that we'd need to be looked after, but it's still a nice thought." Ruby said happily, watching as Halva gave her a small nod and smile, before his face became neutral again, puzzling Ruby, who thought that he hadn't yet figured out the same thing and was puzzling over it. Evidently, he was thinking about something else, though what exactly was still up in the air for Ruby, and despite repeated attempts to get him to spill what he was thinking about, he remained silent and unmoving.

Giving up with a huff, Ruby trampled off from Halva, heading towards one of the corpses, and took the last few steps hesitantly, to which Halva realized that the corpse she'd approached was one of the few she had directly attacked, evidenced by the arrow hole which was now devoid of any indication that there was an arrow, aside from the hole itself, of course.

Approaching the corpse, Ruby watched carefully, taking in everything of this person, this actual person, she'd killed. Ruby had killed Grimm before, but it helped that each Grimm was practically devoid of individuality, as well as being mindless and heartless beasts, who care for naught but destroying humans.

And, while this man in front of her had probably thought much the same, wanting to kill and destroy to get what he wanted, it wasn't guaranteed that he was so, he was different from Grimm in so many regards. He had his own quirks, his own wants, desires, fears, loves, everything. He had his own mother and father, he might have a wife or children somewhere. For all Ruby knew, she could have just killed a much-beloved father who was always kind to his children and who had been practically strong-armed by poverty and conflict, with nowhere else to go, into his current life.

Maybe every morning this man would look at his sword, and tell himself 'Just one more time', and prayed for the one time where he could actually hang his sword up for the last time, and spend his days in peace. And she, with her arrow, had taken that all from him.

Quickly nipping the growing depression in the bud, Ruby found herself being wrapped up in strong arms, only slightly eeping before realizing it was Halva, though what exactly he was doing was lost on her, but not for long, as he spoke quietly and calmly, but with a strong and unyielding under-current to his voice.

"He was your first?" Halva spoke, and Ruby, much to his amusement, fell back on old quirks, twisting her head in her old so-so gesture, but responding properly before he could ask her to elaborate.

"Where we came from, we had creatures of darkness we hunted, and they hunted us. They were called Grimm. They were-" Ruby had to stop a moment to stop a sob from slipping out as she thought so hard about home, and creatures she'd possibly never get to see again. "-They were basically pure evil. All they wanted was to kill us, and we had to fight back against them. Not to brag, but I was good at it, I could mow my way through a back of Beowolves like I was just cutting a field of wheat." Ruby said with a slight grin, as much as she was able to with her mouth, before continuing.

"B-But he was different." She said, gesturing to the still-bleeding corpse in front of her. "He was a person, not some mindless creature of darkness. He could have had anybody waiting at home for him. May-" This time Ruby couldn't stop the sob from escaping, and she was surprised when Halva made no indication that he cared. Comforted by this, Ruby twisted her head around so she was facing away from the corpse and behind Halva, resting her head in his shoulder. "Maybe he had a wife waiting at home for him, or kids, and he had to do this, just to keep them alive?" Ruby said sadly, pulling her head back from Halva's shoulder enough to look at his face, and was shocked at the look of pure ice on his face.

"Ruby, my first kill was so long ago at this point that I don't even remember it, it's lost in the haze of fighting and killing to survive. But, what you must remember, is that these men and women made this choice. They could have turned their skills elsewhere, becoming mercenaries, and be paid a fair wage, or perhaps hold guards. Instead, they chose to become bandits, people who steal, kill, and sometimes rape and pillage if the group are feeling that way. Many of those that lie dead here came upon this life for the sheer lawlessness of it. They could do whatever they wanted, all they needed was the strength of arms to beat whatever their objective was into submission."

With a sigh, he looked away from Ruby and towards the corpses surrounding them. "Now, maybe a few of those that lay here dead were decent people once, but they all, as a group, made the decision to try to take from us, to kill us, and we responded in kind. And, before you even say it, no, knocking them out and leaving them for the guards wouldn't work. In Skyrim, the law is clear, they tried to kill us, and we responded in self-defence with equal force. They lost the ensuing battle, end of discussion. Tying them up would have seen them executed for the murders they have undoubtedly committed in the past, as a group. Even if one of these bandits never killed a single person, they'd be lumped in with the group, and executed based on that."

Releasing his hold on the now squirming Ruby, he let her hop away from him, though she didn't go far, only slightly off of him before curling herself up to look up at him. "But why?", drawing confusion from Halva.

"Why what? Why would they be killed? Why would they attack us in the first place? Why what, Ruby?" He asked, only to receive a shake of the head and a huff.

"Why everything? Why is all this even happening? I just want to go back home, and I don't even know why I was taken from there. I want to know why I have to be here instead of with my team, why I have to do any of this, but I guess the Universe won't be kind and just give me an answer, now will it?" Ruby said the last part with a little venom, throwing her gaze up to the sky, as if daring something to answer her, but when no words bounded down to her, and no stars shot across the sky in acknowledgement, she let her head fall back down to the ground, staring at the ground ahead of her and ignoring her surroundings.

Rubbing his eyes, Halva pinched his nose and quietly said his parting words.

"Guess that's just life, huh Red?", turning away before he could see Ruby's surprise, as he'd unknowingly sounded just like Roman, especially with his passing use of her old nickname, just another way the Universe was trying to mess with the poor dragon. Resting her head back on herself, Ruby threw another glance at the stars, still awed at the twin moons dancing across the sky, whole and un-marred.

"Life, huh?"

* * *

Deciding not to spend a night anywhere near where those bandits were lying dead, the pair made their way up the roads of Skyrim, heading off-road at one point to avoid going too close to Fort Kastav, and settling in at the foothills surrounding the Shrine of Azura in a small cave, too small to be an animal den, but enough to spend a sheltered night in before finishing their journey.

The pair didn't talk much into the night, content to simply get the journey over and done with, though Halva did praise Ruby when he saw that she'd managed to make her arrows as small as nails, cementing the idea in his head that she'd be capable of staying under the radar.

After their rest, the pair quickly packed up their few camping belongings, or rather, Halva packed his things up, while Ruby just watched over him with a slightly mournful expression on her face at the thought that she'd never again be able to do such a thing with her current body, but she shook her head of that thought. The pair quickly left the cave and made their way towards the nearby road, rejoining it near the Whistling Mine, and swiftly following said road north, towards the growing forms of buildings, and the much taller stone building far behind the far stouter wooden buildings, which Ruby had decided was very likely the College.

Approaching the town, the pair weren't prepared for a man to come running up to them, clad in regular peasant garbs, with a light satchel slung across his back. Halva had moved his hand to rest atop his sword, and Ruby had subtly adjusted her position, all the better to launch her hidden arrow at the man, who, after a glance towards Ruby and a nod to himself, reached behind himself to his bag.

"I've been looking for you. Got something I'm supposed to deliver - your hands only." The man said quickly, pulling out a sealed letter from his satchel and placing it in a surprised Halva's hand, before stepping to the side and walking briskly past them, with only a quick wave as his form of goodbye, disappearing quickly in the distance, leaving Halva and Ruby to just stare after him in surprise.

Recovering first, Halva shrugged, opening a pouch and sliding the letter in for later. When Ruby looked to ask why he hadn't read it, he simply pointed upwards, towards the clouds and snow currently falling, and Ruby nodded in understanding without a single word, turning her focus to the other side of town, where a bored-looking Altmer stood leaning against the entrance of what must be the College, a narrow and crumbling stone bridge connecting the town with the huge stone building.

Looking at Halva, Ruby watched as he glanced between the Altmer mage, the College, then Ruby, before nodding, both to himself and to Ruby, and began walking towards the woman, who perked up and narrowed her eyes at them when she saw exactly who was approaching the college.

"Halt!" The woman called out when they approached, continuing to inspect the two figures as they came to a stop a safe distance from her. "Welcome to the College of Winterhold. I am Faralda, one of the senior Wizards here, as well as Guardian of the Bridge. If you wish to gain entrance, you must proof your value of magic." She then turned her focus towards Ruby, who was just calmly stood next to Halva, cocking her head when Faralda began inspecting her closely, possibly looking for any signs of a trick or illusion.

Finding so much trick, her eyes narrowed again and she looked towards Halva. "I should hope you know that while the College would normally not allow 'pets' int-". Before the woman could continue, she was stopped dead by the glare from Halva and the growl coming from Ruby.

"I would think it wise that you be very careful about your next words. Ruby is no mere pet, she is here for the same reason as I, to enrol in the College and learn about magic. And-" He said quickly, raising a hand before the woman could utter a word, "-She is no mere novice to magic." He said, looking towards Ruby and nodding.

Stepping forward, Ruby ignored the look that the Altmer was giving her and instead focused in on herself to try and summon her Arma Gigas, finding it moderately harder, as she hadn't had a chance to practice summoning her little suit of armor since that night at Mixwater Mill. But, focusing hard, she found her mental image of the summon, and began pouring the correct quantity of Magicka required to form a physical manifestation of the suit.

Watching from behind her, Halva raised an eyebrow as he watched Ruby begin forming something other than the agreed-upon arrow, and he, as well as the nearby Faralda, both widened their eyes as they watched Ruby mold her Magicka into a foot-tall suit of armor. Thinking quickly back, Halva almost smacked himself when he realized that, by telling her to scale down her ballista attack, he'd inadvertently also told her that she could possibly do the same with her familiar.

Ruby, however, was resolutely ignoring her audience. Instead, she spent all her willpower focusing on making absolutely sure that she kept picturing her Arma Gigas as being only a foot tall. It wouldn't do to suddenly have her familiar explode if it suddenly went from a single foot tall to being 10-foot tall, as trying to stretch the Magicka that made it was forced into that much of a difference in size, that would definitely cause a massive failure in the structure of the magical armor somewhere. Most likely would be that the entire thing would disintegrate back to pure magicka, which had a tendency to explode.

Confident in her now unwavering image of her familiar, she re-opened her eyes, and at the same time willed her familiar to take a rather familiar pose, knelt down, it's sword stabbed tip-first into the ground, and head lowered. Turning her head away from her familiar, she looked at Halva, who, Ruby noted with a mix of joy and fear, that Halva was a bit of a mixed bag of emotions right now. He was proud, and angry, and awe-struck, and a bit fearful, though Ruby reasoned the fear wasn't of her, but rather of what the College might do.

Their stare was brought to a close when the suit of armor then stood up, standing at the ready behind Ruby and gesturing with his hand towards the mage that this little demonstration was for, who seemed to be indecisive between applauding and casting her own magic. Though, watching the summon sling his weapon across his back and cross his arms, she lowered her hands and attempted to straighten herself up quickly, nodding towards Ruby and turning to look towards Halva.

"Well, it's safe to say that your p-" She quickly stopped herself, looking again towards Ruby, who noticed her slip, but still appreciated that she at least was able to stop herself before she said it, "that your partner is definitely competent enough for entry to the College. Now, if you would be so kind as to attempt a spell of your own towards the seal on the wall, or towards me if it is not a combat spell, such as healing hands, and I will decide whether it is sufficient in power enough to grant entry, though I trust that, with a companion such as yours," She nodded towards Ruby at this, who preened a little at the praise, "you should be more than capable of such magic."

Sighing, Halva raised his left hand towards the seal, bringing up his familiar Lightning Bolt spell, watching the lightning coil itself around his arm like a snake, before lashing it out towards the rune, causing no damage to the stone structure, or the structure of the rune itself, but making the rune start to glow brightly from the absorbed energy, and watching as the masterful rune dissipated the Magicka of the spell harmlessly, to return to the soil and stone around them.

"Hmm, yes, very good use of Lightning Bolt, and the psychological impacts of using it akin to a striking snake, very adept usage of such a low-level spell. I must admit, I am impressed with both your unique uses of magic, though I still wish to know what spell your companion used, that is for a later day. I hereby permit you both entry to the College of Winterhold as prospective students. If you would follow me please." The woman then spun on the spot, walking along the bridge, leaving Ruby and Halva to trail behind them.

"Well, that went well." Ruby said, still slightly giddy at the first reactions to her modified familiar.

"Don't count your chickens early Ruby, we still need to actually get inside. Though, with what you just did, I can't imagine they'd turn us away." Halva said, crossing his arms and looking at Ruby pointedly.

"Yeah, yeah, I know. But I saw an opportunity to show off, alright? Anyway, not like it's any different to changing the size of my bolt!" She yelled.

"Ruby, the bolt doesn't act on its own. Changing the size of an autonomous follower is pretty major. but, it doesn't matter now. Onwards and upwards!" Halva yelled, drawing a smirk from Ruby, and a confused eyebrow from Faralda, who just shook her head, and considered the two new students to the College. She had, of course, heard the rumors that the Dragonborn was travelling with a tiny dragon of his own, but it was still a surprise to see for herself.

Pushing her questions aside, Faralda reached the gates of the College, pushing them wide and, with a dramatic turn, waved her hand behind her, facing Halva and Ruby, and gesturing into the main courtyard.

"Welcome to the College!"

* * *

**Neato. I liked writing this chapter quite a bit.**

**Ruby actually reacting to directly killing people is something I don't see many stories actually address. She indirectly killed White Fang during the Breach, when she knocked them off the train and into the horde of Grimm following them, where they undoubtedly died, but this is different. She fired those arrows, and she ended their lives. Now she has that weight on her shoulders.**

**And I LOVE writing Ruby messing about with Magicka. Trust me, soon enough I'll introduce Dovahzuul, I've been talking with someone quite well-versed in Elder Scrolls lore, and have a few of my own shouts ready to go, which Ruby will definitely get some good use out of!**

**I've decided on an upload schedule for my 3 stories, you can find it on my profile, though this story will go to be twice a week uploads, on Tuesday and Friday, so the next chapter will be on Friday, though this may be subject to change!**

**And, as I cannot say this enough, thanks for the kind words everyone! It means the world to me when somebody says that they genuinely enjoyed reading this!**

**Next Chapter: 12th of July**


	11. Chapter 11

**Chapter 11**

* * *

"You!"

The loud shout echoed across the College courtyard, startling all those present, who turned as one towards the source of the voice, a very irate looking Altmer. Who his ire was pointed at was not clear, though an educated guess would likely place the blame at the feet of the odd pair who just entered the College.

"Gonna go out on a limb and say that's Ancano, huh?" Halva said, butting his head against Ruby's side with a groan. "Why does every single person in Skyrim, and their grandmothers, want something from me?"

"Aww, there-there. You are kind of...unique. And it might have something to do with your philanthropic tendencies?" Ruby patted his head with her tail when he looked at her sceptically. "You have a pretty bad habit of accepting every menial errand people give you without question."

"I do not!" Halva yelled, crossing his arms and huffing at her, who merely stared at him until he relented, though instead of answering her unspoken question, he briskly walked over to the Altmer who yelled at them, both to escape their argument, and see what he could do about getting the Thalmor to leave them alone. Hopefully, the Thalmor would put their relations with the College above trying to capture a vaguely interesting specimen, as Ruby hadn't allowed a single Thalmor to actually see her abilities, and all she'd be worth to them is the sheer fact that she was a dragon.

With a jaunty wave, Halva stopped in front of Ancano, measuring up the Mer in front of him. "Me!" He replied cheerfully to the earlier yell, watching as the Altmer went through a few different states of emotion, mixing indignity with anger and frustration, before settling a cold mask of indifference upon his face.

"Look, I don't know why you and your pet are here,-" Ancano said, ignoring the glare and growl accompanying the word pet, "and to be quite honest, I don't give a damn. Elenwen wants your pet for her experiments, and I don't quite feel like angering the Arch-Mage by stealing a students pet in the College. So, I shall tolerate your presence, as long as you don't get in the way of myself. Do we have an accord?" Ancano says, displaying a rare moment of cordiality, extending his hand towards Halva, who took it hesitantly, but none-the-less gave it a strong shake.

"If you don't mess with us, we won't mess with you, sounds perfectly fair to me. Though I must correct you on the notion that Ruby is a mere pet. She is as sapient as any bipedal, with intelligence and wit to match." Halva informed him, smirking when Ruby preened a little under the praise, though Ancano raised an eyebrow and looked at Halva's shoulder, where Ruby was comfortably resting, and watching him closely.

"You know I can understand every word you said?" Ruby said, watching with a smile as the Mer did a double-take, stepping back with raised eyebrows.

"Y-You can actually speak? Oh, I've heard rumors that some dragon travelling Skyrim could actually speak, but to meet one is a rare moment. I can see now why Elenwen has such interest in you, though-" Ancano quickly added, noticing the guarded looks he was receiving, "-I still have no intention of turning you over to her. I would hope you could perhaps shed some light on how you are able to do so, but that can be left for now. So, just know that I will tolerate you both being here, as long as you don't get in the way of my own plans. Good day."

And with that, Ancano nodded to the pair and spun off, walking deeper into the College, and leaving the pair rather stunned by his bluntness. Breaking the silence quickly, Faralda decided to simply shuffle the pair towards the Hall of the Elements, where Tolfdir was teaching the students about wards or some such nonsense, deciding to simply eave the mess that had arrived on their doorstep to the old mage, and get back to guarding the bridge.

Throwing open the doors to the Hall and ushering the pair inside, the Altmer mage merely nodded towards a slightly confused Tolfdir, before turning and quickly leaving, all but abandoning the two new students to Tolfdir's teaching tendencies.

"Ahh, two new students! Do, come join us, I trust you'll find this to be a worthwhile experience!"

And from the looks the other assembled students were giving the pair, it was sure to be soul-draining.

* * *

"Argh! Why can they not just have a book titled "Conjuration stuff" and let me learn from that?! Listening to Phinis drone on about the, and I goddamn quote, "Finer points of Magicka manipulation for bringing forth creatures from the Planes of Oblivion" is not my idea of a good time. The guy makes Oobleck sounds almost sane. Almost." Ruby pouted, burying her face into her fabric-swaddled nest in Halva's room, much to his amusement, whilst he threw up a quick muffle spell to stop prying ears from hearing their conversation.

"You know, you need to learn the basics before you can learn the advanced stuff. If you don't, it'd be suspicious if you went from your tiny Arma Gigas to the normal sized one in only a few short weeks, it'll take time." He said, patting her head in an imitation of how she tried to console him earlier, though it worked just as well when she curled away from him and dropped her head back onto her fabrics.

"Still doesn't make it fun to do."

Sighing, Halva thought over a good way for Ruby to get over her restlessness, and came up with a big, blank nothing. Magic wasn't something you could just learn by taking a single glance at a book, you had to learn how to form the Magicka into what you wanted to happen. But, top almost all mortals, Magicka is very rigid, only accepting a certain few ways to manipulate it. That's why all Familiars are Wolves, why Atronachs look the same, and so on. All magic is similar. Ruby, of course, being exempt from this, was able to manipulate her magic into various forms, but they had to give it the illusion that she had learned to do it, rather than simply have it be something she was capable of.

And, while Ruby agreed with the sentiment, mostly because she didn't like the idea of being a glorified magical tool for the Thalmor, but also because she'd be looked at with even more suspicion if it was revealed she had innate abilities that far out-classed even the most legendary spell-casters, Ruby still didn't like that she had to sit around reading books she'd already far out-classed, just to provide the illusion of learning more advanced magic.

Snapping his fingers, Halva turned from the books he was glancing over, looking closely at Ruby, and nodding to himself. "Ruby, how about learning some other schools of magic, alongside Conjuration? And-" He added, raising a hand, "-yes, I know you want to focus on your conjuration, as well as the fact that both I and Jaune agreed Conjuration was the magic for you, learning other spells, maybe restoration, would be good skills to have in your arsenal. Plus, arriving at a town and healing wounded would do a damn good bit of work warming people up to the idea of a friendly dragon. Sure, you can preach being friend all you like, but, if you actually healed people and helped them with problems, they'd be right quick to adjust their opinions on you."

"Plus, having a healer around would be useful if we got injured out there. Or in here, it'd be handy if I had an accident with a destruction spell and needed a spot of healing before I could get back to it." He added, watching as Ruby nodded along to herself, mulling over all the points brought up, finally shrugging and murmuring to herself about the whole thing. "So, is that a yes?"

Ruby stayed muttering to herself for a few moments, before twisting her head over herself to look at him, and nodded, with a quick, "Sure", before she curled back on herself, apparently happy to talk to herself. Shrugging, Halva turned away from her, and back to the arduous task of picking out a book to study for the evening, dropping his muffle spell, and fully aware of the persistent whispers from the other students sharing the Hall of Attainment as to what they talk about, late into the night, with him casting those spells to prevent eavesdropping, much to the other students dismay.

* * *

"Lady Ruby Rose."

Ruby jumped, almost falling off of her perch on her rock in the courtyard, looking down at the now slightly familiar figure of Jaune's Nightingale with surprise. Since coming to Skyrim, she'd finally gotten used to the new senses her body afforded her, namely the far stronger and sharper senses of smell and hearing, paying for it with her lack of opposable thumbs, though it was a worthy trade. Ruby was getting quite confident in her ability to see, smell, or hear people before they actually got close to her.

So having this figure practically appear behind her, especially in the College, was rather off-putting, though Ruby tried not to make a show of it, instead doing her closest imitation of a smile towards the figure, and hopping down from the point she was sat on, to a lower down rock, closer to head level, to look at the Nightingale more carefully.

"Hey there. Never got your name, though I'd guess that's not exactly something you hand out, huh?" Ruby said, surprised when she heard a chuckle, however quiet and distorted, slip from the mask.

"No, not particularly. Though, if you must address me, simply call me Gale. Anyway, Master Jaune sent me here with a message for you. As you would be incapable of opening said message yourself without difficulty, I trust you would find it acceptable to leave it with your...companion?" The figure asked, inclining their head slightly when Ruby nodded. Before they could walk away, however, Ruby stopped them with a wing, drawing a curious head tilt. "Yes?"

"I...Well, I wanted to know how exactly Jaune has you serving him and calling him Master? Jaune, or at least the Jaune I know, would have been far too sheepish to get someone to call him that..."

The figure shook its head, and Ruby could have sworn the figure was smiling under their cowl. "Master Jaune saved my life when he had no obligation to. As such, I owe him a life-debt. Until I repay that debt, I willingly placed myself in his servitude, and thus call him Master. While I'm sure he finds it rather irritating sometimes, I guess he just gave up trying to stop me at some point." The figure said, sheepishly rubbing the back of its head in a disconcertingly close imitation to Jaune's own mannerisms. "But, that is a story for another day. I must be off, while Jaune appreciates you, it is not the only reason he had me in this area of Skyrim, and I must conclude my other tasks. Good day to you, Lady Ruby."

With that, the figure strode off towards the doors, passing a rather bewildered Faralda on their way along the bridge and disappearing into the heavy snows, whilst Ruby simply settled back down onto her perch, watching the figure disappear with a smirk.

Not 5 minutes later, the figure was re-approaching the College, and Ruby could have sworn that she'd actually managed to make the Nightingale angry, even if she couldn't see their face. When they got close, Ruby put on her most innocent face and sweetly asked "Yeees?", deliberately drawing out the E, and watching as the figure clenched their hands, before they explosively sighed and dug their hand into their bag.

"You didn't have to use me as a guinea pig, you know?" They said with a chuckle as they pulled out the rolled letter and placed it on the stone beside Ruby, who was trying her best to maintain her picture of innocence face, as if butter wouldn't melt in her mouth.

"I have no idea what you're on about. I certainly didn't practice any magic on you. Not me, never. I swear it with the same seriousness as I swear I never touched the cookie jar!" She said with a smile.

Huffing, the figure spun and walked away, muttering one last "So owe me for this Jaune." quietly, though Ruby could still hear it, and snickered.

"I think I found my entertainment. 'So I hired one', yeah right Jaune. Got you hook, line and sinker."

* * *

**Okay, before anybody starts with this, Ancano is far from what he's seen as in canon, because I felt like the game did him a massive injustice by making him be a simple generic bad guy, messing with power beyond his understanding. He's not gonna be playing a massive role in the story, but don't expect him to just be a generic evil guy.**

**Also, I had my first mental block today. I hit the moment where Halva dropped his Muffle spell, and I had absolutely no idea where to go from there, so I pulled in the Nightingale, because why not. Because of this, the chapters are going to shorten down a bit, so that I hopefully avoid having another "Oh god, what do I write now?" moment.**

**For those of you curious, Chapter 9 had Jaune's Nightingale use the Nightingale Subterfuge ability, sending all but the strongest willed bandits into frenzies instantly, with the rest not being that much better off. Those that could resist the pull were the few that managed to actually attack Ruby and Halva, instead of everybody around them.**

**Next Chapter: 16th of July**


	12. Chapter 12

**Phew.**

**Writing 3 stories at once is both great fun, and kinda draining. Don't get me wrong, I love all 3 stories, but trying to come up with reasonable plots for 3 separate universes at the same time is definitely more difficult than I'd originally seen it as.**

**That being said, just to cement this in everybody's heads, Crimson Dovah chapters will be between 2k-2.5k words every Tuesday/Friday, and Watching Rose will be about the same length, maybe a bit longer, every Saturday. I try to post chapters at around 12pm GMT, but it could be at any point during the day in all honesty.**

**Now, the big new shiny one on the block, Alagaesian Anomaly. I don't know whether I'll actually be able to keep the story going very well, as writing 2 dragon Ruby stories at once is probably pushing my luck. If I find it too hard by the end of the month, I'll consider putting it on Hiatus, but there'll be at least 2 more chapters, also at around 2.5k words, until then.**

**Anyway, enough nattering, on with the chapter...**

_**Chapter 12**_

* * *

The College of Winterhold was a rather unique place to be. Mages from all walks of life and species were attending the College, all studying their various schools of magic, and occasionally enlisting the help of other students for experiments. Conjuration students would often pair up with Destruction students, allowing them both to practice their abilities on each other without risk. Illusion students would simply wander the halls and cast whatever spell they wished. Restoration students would have to wait until somebody inevitably got injured before they could test their abilities, and Alteration students would commonly be seen using telekineses, both to practice with their magic, and for general utility.

However, very few students were expecting it when the Hall of the Elements suddenly erupted with smoke with a loud boom, sending all those present running from the hall, hacking their lungs up and glancing back at the sudden smoke-cloud billowing out of the poorly ventilated stone hall with surprise. And, at the head of them all, tapping his foot against the ground impatiently with arms folded, was one Phinis Gestor.

Now, the Hall was a common place for spell-casting to be performed. The entire room was warded to protect against spells, as it was commonly used as both a lecture hall and impromptu testing ground. However, for the room to suddenly go from being clear, to entirely smoke-veiled was not something any students present in the college were expecting to see, especially with a single spell.

Though, if the look Phinis was giving to the culprit was any indication, Phinis didn't seem to care too much about the smoke, caring more that he hadn't been warned of what would happen.

"Look, I'm sorry okay? I didn't know that would happen! The book said it'd generate a small cloud of smoke for about a minute, not fill the room to the point of choking!" Said culprit, a tiny crimson dragon yelled up at him with a glare, as if daring him to argue. The sight was diminished by the fact that the height of the dragon was so much lower than the conjurer she was addressing.

Shaking his head, Phinis looked back at the smoke erupting from the hall with a sigh. "As that may be, you should at least warn me before you attempt a new spell. Given how...erratic your previous attempts at new spells have been, you should know by now that your casting has unforeseen consequences. The Hall of Attainment still has the scorches from where you attempted to conjure a Magelight. Please, Ruby, do be more careful in future and practice somewhere else for your first attempts. Perhaps somewhere in the surrounding regions would do you well, as I'm sure the Jarl wouldn't mind some melted snow and burnt trees."

With a huff, Ruby turned away, after giving a last glance at the dispersing smoke, and plodded her way across the courtyard, ignoring the stares and stifled laughter of the other students, baring her teeth at one who thought it'd be a good idea to try and block her way to jeer at her, barging her way past them all and entering the Hall of Attainment, stomping over to the room she shared with Halva and slumping down on her comfy fabric bedding with a whine.

It wasn't her fault the magic they used was just so weak compared to her own. Whenever she tried to cast a 'normal' adept level spell, it came out way too strongly. For things like Greater Ward that was fine, having more defence never hurt. But whenever she tried to cast something like Fireball or the aforementioned Magelight it'd be far too powerful, usually ruining the room she was using to practice in, much to the chagrin of both her and the faculty, oddly reminding her of home and the teachers at Beacon, though she still adamantly refused to actually acknowledge those thoughts.

She was thankful, however, that Halva seemed happy enough to take her unwillingness to talk about home at face value, leaving her past where it was and focusing on more mundane things, like how he was now able to cast spells like Chain Lightning and Flame Cloak, though he still expressed a want to simply use his sparks spell, as adjusting a new spell with more power to wreath his arm rather than coalesce in his palm would be rather dangerous, and he'd likely be electrocuted more than once doing so.

Ruby, on the other hand, was able to cast most spells, they just came out so strong they'd only be good if she wanted to destroy wherever her target was in its entirety, making most spells utterly useless indoors, as she'd be more likely to bring the entire building down than hit her target. So far the safest spells were in Restoration and Conjuration. If her healing was far too powerful, that was a great thing, wounds being healed faster and with more effectiveness couldn't be a bad thing, and Ruby had already practised her Conjuration, so she could manipulate the magicka in her summon to make it appear smaller. But, for some reason, she simply couldn't get a handle on casting other spells without overloading them and causing damage in some form or another.

Suddenly, Ruby snapped her head up, as footsteps began approaching her and Halva's room, before a cat-person, which Halva called a 'Khajiit', head peeked around the corner, looking into the room, taking note of the miscellaneous clutter adorning the shelves, before his eyes fell upon Ruby, curled up comfortably in her bedding, and his mouth curled into a smile.

"Ahh, scaled one, a pleasure to finally make your acquaintance. This one is J'zargo, and I'd be honored if I may have the name of such a magnificent being such as yourself?" J'zargo said with a bow.

Smirking, Ruby decided to play along with his flattery, see where he was going with this. After asking around about their fellow students, and being rebuffed a few times, Ruby learned enough about this J'zargo to know he was ambitious, arrogant, and a bit of a sticky-fingered guy in all honesty, though Ruby was determined to not take words at face value.

"Oh, the pleasure is mine J'zargo, I'm Ruby. Might I ask what you're here for? Unless-" Ruby covered her face with a wing, "-you're here for...me?" She asked, trying to sound a little sheepish, whilst stifling her giggles at the entire situation. And, if the stammering J'zargo was letting out was any indication, he was not expecting that response.

"J'zargo...Uh..." He managed, trying to work out where exactly to go after a comment like that, though he calmed when Ruby removed her wing to reveal her face, which was twisted into a wry grin and letting out quiet laughter at him, causing him to let out a chuckle himself at how quickly she manipulated him. "Well played Ruby, well played. This one would hope you might be able to share some reagents with J'zargo. J'zargo finds himself running out of ingredients quickly with experimentation."

Shaking her head, Ruby did her best to look apologetic. "Sorry J'zargo, I don't do much alchemy, and Halva carries almost all his ingredients with him. There's some old troll fat-" Ruby said with a grimace, "-some Lavender, and a bit of ground Bear claw somewhere on the shelf you can have, but if you want anything more substantial, you'd have to ask Halva himself, and I warn you now, he guards his ingredients like they were his child or something. Seriously, I don't get it."

Letting out a sigh, J'zargo turned to look at the shelf, noting that there was a little of those ingredients, but barely enough for even a single potion. "Well, J'zargo thinks some alchemists see their potions almost as precious as their own cubs, and guard them as a mother would protect cub. J'zargo never looks at potions that way, they are meant for drinking, not coddling!" He said, picking up the volume at the end with a raise of his fist and a smile when Ruby let out a proper laugh for him.

"Ah, thank you J'zargo, I needed that. I suppose you've heard about what happened in the Hall?" She asked, rubbing her wings together awkwardly with her head back down against the edge of her bedding, watching him closely.

"Bah! Some mages are capable of incredible feats of magic in some schools, and disasters in another! J'zargo begs you to not let it get yourself down! You out-cast everybody in Restoration, even J'zargo himself, and some of the Atronach's you've summoned are incredible!" J'zargo yelled, temporarily forgetting the personality he'd cultivated as an aloof and arrogant Khajiit to give some support to his new scaled friend, who, if the look on her face was any indication, took his words to heart, smiling up at him with a gleam in her eyes.

"Hmm, thanks J'zargo. To be honest with you, everyone I asked didn't have very good things to say about you. I'm glad the rumors were false about you." She said with an honest smile, startling J'zargo, who stood still while she leant out of her bedding to butt her forehead against him, before curling back up and laying her head down, with eyes closed, a clear signal that she was done talking.

With a light chuckle, J'zargo threw a last glance around the room this beautiful creature shared with that man, and felt a rare surge of anger pour through him at the thought of such an intelligent creature being forced into such quarters with a being like Halva! Pushing those thoughts away as to not let anger slip into his voice, he left the room, saying one last quick goodbye to Ruby, who just murmured at him, and leaving, determined to find out what exactly was binding Ruby to that man, and sever it, allowing her to be free of whatever he'd done to her.

"Mark my words Halva Stoneheart, Ruby will be free, and when she comes to get revenge, J'zargo will be there!" He said with a yell, not noticing the figure above him in the rafters, watching with a smile and removing their hand from the dagger they'd been gripping since J'zargo entered the room.

"Never a dull day."

* * *

**So, that's going to be fun. Halva better keep watching his back, J'zargo ain't happy with him, even if it is a big misunderstanding. And who is the mysterious figure in the rafters? I don't know why I'm trying to be mysterious about it, to anybody with two brain cells to rub together it's obvious who would be watching over Ruby with a dagger ready when an unknown variable entered her room.**

**Ruby is probably gonna stick to Conjuration and some Restoration, half because I want her to stay balanced, and half because I don't want to really write many fighting scenes, and mixing a spell-caster Ruby into it would be a nightmare.**

**That said, I'm probably going to try and find a way to get Ruby and Halva back out of the College in the next chapter or two, and I do have a pretty solid idea of what I want to happen. It won't be following canon, so don't worry about that!**

**(Also, thank you guest-person for pointing out how much of an idiot I am. J'zargo is a Khajiit, not an Argonian, duh. I don't know why I said he was Argonian...Stupidity I guess =P)**

**Next Chapter: 19th of July**


	13. Chapter 13

**I don't like it, but depending on what happens in real life in the next few days, uploads might be paused for a bit. I was eating burgers, as you do, and managed to bite down on a bit of roll stuck in my cavity, so now I'm back to being in constant pain, yay. So, like I said, the stories might get paused, it depends on what happens, as I won't really be in the mood to write if I have to deal with a painful cavity while my dentist flounders around for an excuse.**

**They told me I was on the list to get it extracted...more than 5 months ago. I really don't have the patience to deal with them being idiots right now, so yeah. It's equally likely I'll continue stories like normal and just push through it like always, but I'm not sure, just giving ya'll a heads up!**

**Well, enough of my toothy madness, I feel I must warn you, this chapter is a bit heavy. It's not anywhere near as lighthearted as the story normally is, so beware, and steel yourself against the cold grasp of reality! Muhahaha!**

**Also, I've decided. Ruby is going to be a proper Dragon, not a Skyrim Dragon/Wyvern, so she has 4 legs. The reasoning for this will be made very clear later on.**

**Anyways, on with the chapter...**

**_Chapter 13_**

* * *

"Miss Rose!"

Ruby raised her head from its comfortable place, draped over her cushions, to peer at the blurry form of a man standing in the entrance to her room. Waving a wing in its direction, Ruby ducked her head back on the pillow. "Already told you J'zargo, go find Halva for ingre-" She was abruptly stopped when her wing was shifted to the side, and she looked up to peer into the far too close face of a Khajiit, though the patterns on his fur were far different and much darker than J'zzargo's snow-colored fur, who was studying her with a glint in his eye and a wide smile.

"Woah, okay buddy, definitely not J'zargo. Mind telling me why you're in here?" Ruby asked quickly, watching as the stranger took barely any notice to her words, instead inspecting her wing closely and muttering to himself. Batting her other wing at him and catching one of his ears seemed to snap him out of whatever funk he was in, and Ruby repeated herself.

"Oh, my apologies. I just have never had a chance to study such a remarkable being such as yourself, and I got ahead of myself. I am known as J'datharr, and you, my dear, need no such introduction." He said grandly, taking a step back to bow upon saying his name, while Ruby simply regarded him with confusion.

"O-okay? I don't see how that relates to my original question as to why you are in here?"

Rubbing his head, the Khajiit had the nerve to look a little embarrassed, as though he only just realized why exactly she'd find it so strange that he was stood there. "Well, you see..." And that was all she heard before he lunged forward, a black object falling from the sleeve of his robe, and he struck her over the head, disorienting her, and letting him follow up with a second blow, sending her to darkness.

* * *

"Oh no."

Those words were all Halva needed to hear from the Nightingale hanging above him to know something bad must have happened. Wordlessly, said Nightingale dropped down from their position above him to land next to Ruby's bedding, and the note resting there. With a shaky hand, the masked one picked up the note and unfolded it, back facing Halva, allowing him to read it over their shoulder.

_'Elenwen sends her regards. Don't try to chase the Dragon.'_

_"_Jaune is going to kill me for this. I-I thought she'd be at least somewhat safe here! Now Elenwen has her, and all because I decided watching over you would be better than watching her!" The Nightingale babbled out, before taking a deep breath and calming themselves as much as possible, though it was clear from the tight grip upon their blade that it only helped a little. Without warning the Nightingale spun around, barging straight past Halva and walking stiffly out the Hall of Attainment and towards the Hall of the Elements.

With a sigh, Halva took another look around the room, before grabbing one of his many weapons and following the irate Nightingale, already forming plans and counter plans for how to hunt Ruby down and get her back, shaking his head as each plan he came up with met with too many variables to work beyond simply going to the Thalmor Embassy and demanding her back, a plan that would totally work, if he only wanted to find Ruby. Getting her out of the Thalmor's clutches would be significantly harder.

His thinking was interrupted when a loud yell could be heard from the Hall of the Elements. Picking up his pace, Halva stumbled in to see the Nightingale holding Ancano up by one hand, blade in the other, practically growling at him.

"I-I assure you, I have done no su-uch thing!" Ancano managed to get out, though the grip on his collar made talking difficult. Normally, one such as him would have laughed at his assailant, since few would be foolish enough to stand up against the Thalmor. But he could tell that, with whatever nonsense the hooded figure was spouting, they wouldn't hesitate to disembowel him if he antagonized them.

All around them, the various mages were all in varied states of disbelief, some in amusement, others in worry. Not a single one interfered, both for fear of what the figure was capable of, but also because none of them like Ancano, always sticking his nose in the middle of experiments and scrabbling for more access to archived documents.

After lowering him slightly to look closer at his face, the Nightingale grumbled, before releasing him suddenly, letting him land awkwardly and stumble, turning on their heel and all but running out of the hall, straight past a mildly amused Halva and the assembled students.

At seeing him, Ancano narrowed his eyes, prompting Halva to raise an eyebrow in response, and watch Ancano stride over quickly. "What was the meaning of that?"

"Hmm?" Halva eloquently replied.

"That! Your hooded friend strode in here, grabbed me by collar, hoisted be from the ground and began growling something about your dragon being kidnapped. I believe I made it clear that we should just stay out of the others way and nothing would happen?"

Rubbing his chin as though in thought, Halva never once broke eye contact with the slightly rattled Thalmor. "Might have something to do with the fact that she was taken by the Thalmor, and that you're the only one of them around to tell Elenwen where Ruby was." He said, startling Ancano with the level of venom in his voice.

Raising his hands quickly as though to ward off an attack, Ancano tried to placate the irate man. "Now now, I'm surely not the only person who knew you and your dragon were coming here! At any point, another Thalmor could have seen you and her coming north and told Elenwen. This is honestly more of a hassle for me than you, as now Elenwen will have a very sharp bone to pick with me for not telling her you two were here in the first place, but none of that matters now. If you say your dragon has been taken by Elenwen, you might as well give up there. When did you find out she was missing?"

"Just now. She's been gone at least a half-hour though, I would have seen if somebody tried to leave with her since I was stuck talking in the courtyard."

"Well then, by this point whoever took her will be past Fort Kastav by now, further if they brought a horse...Hey, wait!" The Altmer stuck his arm out to grab Halva's when the man turned to leave. "You might as well give up. By the time you track down whoever actually has her, she'll have been transferred to...Elenwen's "custody"."

Narrowing his eyes, Halva rounded on the Altmer, a short "Explain." being his only words.

"Well, you see..." He trailed off, startled when Halva stepped towards him. "Elenwen probably will have Rulindil..."handle" her, which means even if you found her there's no guarantee you'd like what you find."

Shrugging it off, Halva turned around to leave the College, but was stopped by a hand on his shoulder. Turning again, he was surprised to see Ancano looking at him with...not quite worry, since that would imply he cared about somebody other than himself, but still something. "Look. I'm just trying to warn you. Elenwen will let Rulindil do whatever it takes to get what she wants from your dragon friend. Now, I don't know what exactly she wants, but whatever it is, it probably won't be a good thing. So you'll need to either find her fast, or be ready to see your friend broken.

"Bah!" Halva said, shrugging his hand off and striding towards the exit. "Ruby is strong, she'll be fine. And if I find a single scale out of place, the Thalmor Embassy will have me to answer to!"

Watching the man stride out of the hall, Ancano could only shake his head.

"What are you playing at, Elenwen? Stealing a dragon from the College, antagonizing the Dragonborn to come after her. What's your angle...Oh no."

* * *

Ruby woke up uncomfortably. her wings were awkwardly caught in something, her legs folded together and bound up in course rope and she couldn't see anything, though that was probably because of whatever fabric was on her face. So, all in all, not a nice wake-up, and the pounding headache rushing through her head definitely didn't help.

Despite her best efforts to stop it, she let out a quiet whine at just how painful her head felt, which was caught by whoever was responsible for her current situation if the sudden shift in her position was any indication, as though she'd been flipped upside down, before falling out of whatever was carrying her and hitting the ground hard, jarring her and bringing the headache to the forefront of her mind, making her head spin and her body to slump as she tried to deal with the pain enough to get her bearings.

"Well, well. It seems the rumors were true." A feminine voice said, prompting Ruby to shake her head again and look in the vague direction the voice came from, only for something to suddenly strike her in the face, shunting her backwards and snapping her head upwards painfully.

"Insolent Lizard. Do not dare to look toward your new masters without permission!" A far more masculine voice called to her, punctuating his sentence with another blow, dazing Ruby again and sending her head to the floor.

"Come now Rulindil, surely the poor thing meant no disrespect?" The female voice asked, and Ruby felt a nudge against her ribs. "I said-" Striking her side with more force this time, "-surely the thing meant no disrespect." Prompting a whine from Ruby, who could only curl herself up and try to weather the blow. "Good. Now I trust you'll do as ordered Rulindil? Excellent."

"Well, this is going to be fun." The male voice said, and Ruby shuddered at his tone, completely flat and uncaring. All Ruby could think at that moment was how much she hoped Halva would get there and help her soon.

* * *

"Alright, thank you, this means a lot to me!" Halva said to the friendly barkeep. He'd gone straight down the road Ruby and he had walked up to get to the College, and stopped by the Nightgate Inn on the way, asking the man behind the bar for information, and being rewarded, when he said he saw two Thalmor, one carrying a sack, walking down the road and turning right, heading up the hill and into Duskglow Crevice.

Leaving quickly, Halva made his way down the road, noting the Nightingale already ahead of him having overheard the conversation and immediately made his(her? it's?) way dow nthe road and up the hill, stopping at the entrance to note the trail of blood and the piled up Chaurus and Falmer carcasses just outside the entrance. Whoever was in there was at the very least competent, though still stupid to stop for whatever reason so close to the College. Surely those idiots knew Halva wouldn't stand idly by while Ruby was taken.

Drawing his own weapon, Halva gestured towards the cave, watching the Nightingale draw a dagger and a one-handed sword and slowly creep in, taking care to keep an eye out for tripwires or soul crystal traps, and more than once raising their blade to stop Halva blundering into other devious traps.

Winding through the surprisingly long cave, Halva noticed the still wet stains of blood, the faint scratch marks in the stone from where blades evidently landed, and one small patch of blood that clearly wasn't Falmer or Chaurus. Drawing the attention of the Nightingale, Halva watched as the thief flitted over to him and looked closely at the blood, before they dabbed their gloved hand in it and rubbed it together.

Listening closely, he could hear a very quiet chuckle, before the figure stood back up, wiping the blood off their gloves o nthe stone and saying in a single word "Altmer.", immediately walking further into the cave.

Halva closed his eyes for but a moment, taking solace in knowing that they were on the right track, as the chances of a random Altmer being in this cave when two Thalmor were seen nearby was basically zero. Squaring his shoulders, he rose back up from the patch of blood, looking towards the doorway the Nightingale went through, before striding over and turning the corner, almost bumping straight into the back of the stationary Nightingale, only barely stopping himself from sending the pair to the floor.

"Hey, what's the probl-"

And then Halva looked forwards, to whatever the Nightingale was looking at, and saw Ruby, hanging in a wrought-iron cage like some dumb animal.

She had clearly been beaten, if the blood covering her was any indication, though a lot of it came from what must have stunned the normally unflappable Nightingale. Stabbed into the wall above and behind her cage was a pair of dragon wings. And, considering the size, it was pretty obvious just where they came from.

His fingers clenched tightly, Halva drew his eyes away from the unconscious form of Ruby's unconscious form and focused on the two Thalmor who were apparently too busy to even notice their arrival, fretting over a piece of paper laid out on some stone. But, before he could even take a step towards them, he watched as the Nightingale sheathed their sword, taking a second dagger out of somewhere else upon their person, and hurled them both towards the Thalmor, striking both figures and watching as they vanished into explosions of Magicka, drawing their sword again before the daggers even struck.

"Well, impressive." A voice said, seemingly coming from all around them at once. The pair focused on the new figure to appear, a robed Thalmor, a ball of magic in his hand and eyes firmly trained on the pair. "Am I to take it you don't approve of the changes I made to your pet? Well, fret not, soon you'll be a mere footnote in my artistry."

Without warning, the Thalmor hurled his magic, and a Storm Atronach appeared from the void of magic, arms up and ready to fight. Glancing once at the Nightingale, Halva nodded his head towards the figure, and when the Thief nodded back, he drew his blade and charged the Atronach, creating an opening for his companion to dart around it, charging straight towards the Thalmor, who reared back in surprise but swiftly conjured up a blade to do battle with.

That was as far as Halva could see though, as his attention was firmly rooted with the summon in front of him, those his eyes kept darting back up at Ruby, who seemingly regained consciousness from the noise and was watching them all from her cage with fearful and pained eyes.

Gritting his teeth at the sight, Halva doubled his efforts to slip into the Atronachs guard, using a liberal mixture of his magic, his blade, and just his sheer body size to force the summon back, but it met it all like a stone wall, or, more aptly Halva thought with a grin, a storm wall, though the situation re-asserted itself and he lost his good mood as soon as it came.

With a final yell, Halva gambled his abilities against his opponent, baiting it into over-swinging and bisecting the magic holding its arm to the torso, swiftly spinning on the spot and bringing his blade up to decapitate the summon, watching it disintegrate with a smirk.

Thinking of his companion, he turned his head to see the Nightingale drop one of their daggers, grabbing another from their seemingly infinite supply and kicking the dropped one up past the Thalmors guard, the blade embedding deeply in their stomach and leaving the Altmers guard open enough for the thief to dart forwards, jabbing both blades through their throat and decapitating the summoner in much the same way Halva removed the head of the Atronach.

Immediately after defeating their own opponent, the thief looked towards Halva, nodding their head at him when they saw he'd defeated his own opponent, before they both drew their attention to Ruby, who was watching them both carefully.

Approaching the cage, Halva immediately knew something else was wrong, as Ruby, rather than trying to get out of the age or greet them, instead she shied back, almost like she was scared of them.

"Ruby? Ruby, it's me, Halva." Halva said, watching as she seemed content to just hide from him as best she could, though with her now missing wings she had to settle for simply putting her tail in front of herself and hiding behind her forelegs.

"Y-You're no-t Halva! Sto-top trying the same things on me!" Ruby screamed at him, prompting him to take a step back and raise his hands in a placating fashion.

"Ruby, I swear it's m...oh." And at that moment Halva realized what Ruby was going on about, though if the intense stare the Nightingale seemed to be giving him was any indication, they didn't know, and didn't want to be left out of the loop. "Those Thalmor you threw knives at, think about it." And watched as they went from completely confused to understanding in moments, though Halva had already turned his attention back to Ruby. "Look, Ruby, it's me, I swear. How about this, I'll tell you something only the real Halva would know?"

At Ruby's hesitant nod, Halva rubbed his head, trying to think of good points for him to share with Ruby. "How about...you remember how you tried to explain how your ballista bolt explodes?" At Ruby's slow nod, he continued. "Or how you mentioned a...perpetrating loop?"

Quietly, Ruby murmured "Perpetuating.", though still loud enough for Halva to hear it and smile.

"Hmm. How about the Rules? No leaving my shoulder in Whiterun, no flying without permission, no killing unless in self-defense, no sneaking off unless I say you can go somewhere, and if I give you an order, follow it ignoring the other rules. Now, which of those was incorrect?"

Looking back up at Halva from behind her tail, Ruby tilts her head to the side. "N-None of them..." and jumping back when Halva smiled and spread his arms wide.

"Come on Ruby, I'm me. You even saw us kill the monster who summoned those two Thalmor illusions."

Despite his words, Halva was inwardly panicking, and swearing that he would hunt down Elenwen himself, just so he could stick a dagger between her ribs. It was clear she was at the very least involved in the whole situation even if she wasn't directly here. Though for right now Halva pushed thoughts of revenge out of his mind, instead focusing on the terrified dragon in front of him. What surprised him, however, was the Nightingale stepping forward, taking a knee in front of Ruby and laying their blades at their sides, rather than sheathing them.

"Miss Ruby, if it helps, I still remember the conversation we had in the courtyard of the College, if it would help you trust us I'd gladly recall it word for word. Or the conversation between you and the mage J'zargo. If it would help, I'd be glad to recall them both." The Nightingale said though the words sounded cold through their voice-distorting mask.

Ruby raised her head at this, looking closely at the Nightingale, before lowering it again, shifting her body slightly and whimpering when she felt the pain from her removed wings again, keeping her eyes in the Nightingale the whole time. "If you r-really are the same person, what did you mu-mutter when you left the second time in the courtyard?"

Humming to themselves, the Nightingale put a hand up to their mask, imitating rubbing their chin, before snapping their fingers. "I believe I said something along the lines of 'So owe me for this Jaune.' Though please don't tell him I said that." They added quickly.

And, as Halva and the Nightingale watched with held breaths, Ruby stood, wobbly, and walked to the edge of her cage to look them both closely up and down, before she slumped down with a quiet laugh, drawing worried looks from the pair.

"It's over..." She said quietly.

* * *

Simultaneously, Jaune slumped down from his position and fell to the floor, drawing his knees up as he desperately tried to block out what he was just forced to witness for such a long time whilst waiting for Halva to arrive, wishing above anything else that he could go and comfort Ruby and stop them from removing her wings. But then he remembered what'd happen if he did so, and he shook those thoughts out of his mind, instead focusing on the plans he needed to set in motion to ensure something like that never again happened while he was unavailable to help his friend.

Drawing deeply on his own strength, Jaune stood back up, making his way over to a nearby shelf filled with rolled up scrolls, opening one to check it's contents and, after a quick nod to himself, packing it away to give to his messenger later. Throwing a last glance over his shoulder to where he could watch Ruby as Halva and his Nightingale fuss over her wounds, he shook his head, striding out of the room with a determined glint to his eye.

"Never again."

* * *

**Okaaaay.**

**Like I said, a bit heavy. This isn't going to be forgotten by Ruby for a long time. Imagine it, having illusions trying to trick you constantly, waking up to watch two people who could be illusions fighting, and then they come and try to trick you with honeyed words.**

**That's the kind of thing that could break your mind.**

**This is going to have big repercussions.**

**Also, how do you like the longer chapter? Someone asked about making them longer, so I figured I'd do it. I might make it so I do all fanfictions once a week at this kind of length, rather than having this one twice a week at shorter length.**

**Next Chapter: 26th of July**

**(Depending on the response to this, I'll start uploading once a week on Fridays. If people would prefer 2 chapters at 2k words each week I'll go back to that, but considering the responses I've received from Watching Rose, I figure you'd all appreciate a singular but longer chapter)**


	14. Chapter 14

**Man, ****even I feel bad now, and I'm the one who wrote this. But I made this bed and I shall sleep in it, as uncomfortable as it is to write it. I don't like having Ruby be this meek and scared of the world now, but it felt right after what happened, and who am I to deny my story-writing urges!**

**In all honesty, this story feels like it's losing its steam now. Writing it is definitely getting harder with each chapter as I can't really come up with a good plan for it. I have some vague ideas written for up to chapter 17, but vague ideas are hard to turn into chapters, and I feel like it's showing. So, depending on how I feel, the chapters may slow down even more...SORRY!**

**I swear, I like writing these. Making these new worlds is so much fun, but actually creating them seems to be eluding me a lot. Maybe trying to do 3 stories at once was a bit presumptuous and my creativity pool has been dried up. But, for now they'll remain once a week each, just a warning for what may come.**

**Though, thanks for the support everyone, we've just hit over 10,000 views, which always gobsmacks me when I see it.**

**Well, that's enough of that sappiness, on with the chapter...**

**_Chapter 14_**

* * *

Silence followed the trio as they made their way slowly back towards the College of Winterhold. An eerie silence which pervaded everything surrounding them. There was no sound of trees rustling in the wind, no birds calling out into the air, nothing to break the stalemate of sound surrounding the group.

At their head was the Nightingale, clad in their normal shrouding clothing, concealing their identity and protecting the occupant. Following in the middle of the group was Halva, clad in his own heavy armor with his weapon slung across his back, arms swinging as he trod down the path, his eyes turning behind him to check on their third member every so often before returning to observing the area around them.

And, at the back of the group, walking at her own subdued pace was Ruby. Halva had kindly wrapped her with some cloth to cover her missing wings, but all it did was reinforce the feeling that something had been taken from her. Ruby had only experienced something like that once, when she lost her mother, and she was far too young to truly appreciate how much it hurt to lose something like that. Rolling her shoulders, Ruby let her mind wander, thoughts of home, of her family, of her new friends, anything to stop her mind from thinking about the time she spent in that cave.

Seeing the familiar stone structure of the College appearing, the Nightingale turned around to wave Halva closer to them, nodding towards the buildings and saying nothing. Throwing another glance at Ruby, Halva rubbed his chin in contemplation, trying to plan what their next step should be. From the moment Ruby was found to be missing Halva had already decided that the College had served its purpose in allowing Ruby to temper her magic, and he'd already learnt a few nice spells which he could toy with, though after weighing what Ruby had lost, Halva regretted ever bringing up the idea of magic, and wished that he'd followed his mind rather than his gut and taken them to the Greybeards instead.

Unbeknownst to the pair ahead of Ruby, Ruby had frozen at the sight of the College, her mind reeling from being in the same room she was taken from so suddenly, shaking her head at the memory of being struck over the head so violently and absentmindedly shifting the stubbed remnants of her wings in discomfort.

"H-Hey Halva?" She called, waiting for the man in question to turn and look at her. "Could you take off this wrapping? It-It's kinda stifling me now."

"Are you sure about that Ruby?" At Ruby's tilted head, he elaborated. "Do you want people to be looking at your...stumps?" He continued, wincing at the word but needing to nip it in the bud.

"O-oh." was all Ruby could say, already picturing the faces of people she'd come to know and enjoy spending time with staring at her back with sympathy and pity, a sight Ruby felt saddened by. She didn't want pity, she wanted to just forget it ever happened, already feeling tears well up that she'd never be able to glide onto Halva's shoulder again, or that she'd never be able to fly like a bird.

Almost on cue Ruby tilted her head skyward to see some native bird fly overhead, and felt a strange surge of anger well up towards Halva at never letting her fly like that, though she quickly quashed it in fear of letting it fester. Throwing her gaze back down at Halva, Ruby shook her head at him, mumbling to herself and stepping past him, keeping her vision on the stone path and not looking up for anything, instead just focusing on following the Nightingale through Winterhold, even ignoring all the whispers and stares that the inhabitants leveled at the little dragon.

And, as much as Halva didn't care to admit it, seeing Ruby so dejected and hurt had sparked something in him, and he vowed that he'd hunt down Elenwen and make her feel the same pain, and damn what anyone thought of him for it.

* * *

It was a few days after the group had settled into the College. Ruby had barely left their room, and the Nightingale that Jaune had watching them was not once seen anywhere aside from by Ruby's side. Apparently the mysterious figure had taken their failure to protect Ruby and formed it into a new purpose, to ensure that no more harm would come on their watch.

While it was comforting for Halva to see, it definitely didn't help his next words, as the Nightingale would likely oppose what he wanted to do, but it needed to be done, especially as it'd mean Ruby would be in arguably the safest place for her in Skyrim.

"We should go to High Hrothgar." Halva said plainly, watching as Ruby's face contorted in a mixture of confusion and fear, as his tone clearly suggested leaving the College, but she didn't recognise the location.

The Nightingale merely crossed their arms, shaking their head at Halva. "You know as well as I do that travelling across Skyrim to go there would be an incredibly dangerous prospect with Ruby's conditions. If the Thalmor got wind of it-" The Nightingale said, not noticing Ruby's panic at the mere word, though Halva did, "-we'd be up to our ears in Justiciars before we made it past Windhelm."

"I know that, but on the other hand, High Hrothgar is the safest place in Skyrim for Ruby to be."

Swallowing her fear, Ruby raised her head, coughing lightly to get the pair's attention. "W-What's High Hrothgar?"

"Oh right, I never explained it to you. High Hrothgar is the name of the temple the Greybeards live in. The Greybeards are masters of the voice, the Dovahzuul, language of dragons. I did promise I'd take you there some day." Halva said, unfurling his map and pointing to the mountain for Ruby. "That's where they are, and-" Shifting his finger to the College, "-That's where we are. So, as our friend here so eloquently, the journey might be a bit dangerous, though if we keep it quiet and travel in Stormcloak lands, we should be able to make it there without running into any Thalmor." He finished, wincing a little at Ruby's adverse reaction to the simple word.

"Hey Ruby, I heard you're back!" A white-furred Khajiit called, sticking his head around the doorframe to look at Ruby and wave at the assembled people, staring sceptically at the Nightingale and Halva. "So what ha-" He began, to stop suddenly when he noticed the wrappings around Ruby's body and made to step towards her, halting when the other two occupants of the room stood from their seats to bar his passage whilst Ruby just stared at him wide-eyed and breathing heavily, eyes glazed over.

"Could you watch over Ruby for me?" Halva asked of the Nightingale, who sat down with a quick nod, whilst Halva took the Khajiit by the shoulder and all but dragged him out of the room, said Khajiit allowing it for a few moments before shrugging the arm off and glaring at the man, stopped when he jabbed a finger into his chest.

"Alright buddy, here's the deal. Ruby is scared of you. I don't know why, she hasn't mentioned anything about you that might make her scared, but after seeing her reaction to you appearing like that, it's clear that only a few things could have happened. Either you've done something to make her afraid, or something about you is causing it, and to be honest considering how casually you were acting there, I expect it's not got anything to actually do with you."

Sighing, Halva patted the guy on the shoulder, looking closely into his eyes. "But, for whatever reason, it's enough to set her off, so, I'm gonna ask this once. Can you stay away from Ruby, for her sake?"

"And let you keep her as some kind of sick pet? J'zargo thinks not!" The Khajiit said, returning Halva's finger-jabbing full-force and glaring at him. "J'zargo has heard of how you drag that poor dragon around like some kind of pet, and when she vanishes and comes back, suddenly she has no wings, and is afraid? That Ruby is not the same Ruby J'zargo talked to, and this one feels like explanations are in order before he even considers letting you keep her under your thumb!"

"Excuse me?! Ruby is not some mere pet! She's probably the closest thing to a confidant I have in Skyrim, and a damn good companion in a fight. And you have the gall to suggest I keep her like a damn pet?" Halva yelled, grasping the Khajiits robes by the collar and shoving him into the wall. "Now, I may put up with a lot of things, but I'm getting mighty pissed at some of your insinuations bud. Talk. Now."

Scrabbling at his collar, J'zargo tried to free himself from the vice-grip the other man was holding him in. "J-J'zargo has heard things! He has heard that you forced her on your shoulder like some kind of damn ornament! And you confined her to your home when not expressly with you like she couldn't be trusted! If that isn't signs that you see her as a pet rather than an intelligent being then J'zargo is not Khajiit!"

"...Are you really that bone-headed? J'zargo, that was for her protection." Halva said, smirking at J'zargo's bewildered face. "Think about it. Skyrim is being marauded by dragons. If a small seemingly weak dragon were to waltz through a hold, what would happen?"

Lowering his head, J'zargo slumped in Halva's hold. But Halva didn't stop pressing the attack. "Her riding on my shoulder was both for her own comfort and safety. She's not heavy, and she'd have to expend far more energy to keep up with me, so her staying on my shoulder meant we moved faster and she wouldn't be tired if we got into a fight. Plus, she even admitted to me that she found it comfortable!"

At this point, J'zargo had all but given up on the idea of trying to argue back, as he was already rethinking everything over in his head but from the lens of helpfulness and protection rather than oppression, and seeing Halva's actions in an entirely different way. Not to say that the Khajiit trusted Halva, he trusted him as much as he'd trust a thief to leave his gold alone if he left it unattended, but he was at least open to the idea of Halva actually being a protector for Ruby. "J'zargo see's your point, though he still doesn't trust Halva."

"Hmph. I don't need you to trust me. Just leave Ruby alone, she is still quite...fragile, and I don't want her to break down because you couldn't keep your curiosity in a bag, got it?" At his question, J'zargo slowly nodded, throwing a last glance at the doorway, wishing above anything else that he could just make sure the sweet dragon who spoke to him like he was the normal one, and not judging him based on his reputation, was actually alright.

"One thing, if I may Halva. Who caused Ruby's...situation?" J'zargo said, wincing along with Halva when he said the word, though Halva shook his head slowly, causing the Khajiit to frown.

"Ruby doesn't want anybody to know. All she wants is for people to just forget about it and move on. Of course, she'll never be able to just forget about it, but we have to do our best to follow with what she wants I guess. If I told you, I have no doubt you'd try to hunt them down, and if something happened to you from it...well...Ruby wouldn't even forgive me or herself. All I can say is that hopefully soon Ruby won't be anywhere within their reach. Even if they could try and reach her here, well...you probably saw her self-appointed 'bodyguard', eh?" Halva said with a smile, sticking a hand out for the wary Khajiit, who slowly clasped it, surprised when Halva pulled him in close to whisper.

"Don't trust the Thalmor." He said, letting go of the Khajiit and leaving with a wave over his shoulder.

* * *

Elsewhere in the College, a very irate Ancano was having a rather vocal argument with an emissary sent by Elenwen.

"No, absolutely not! I shall not jeopardise my position in the College simply to sate Elenwen's curiosities. As much as I can appreciate the value of this creature, she has displayed nothing but intelligence and courtesy, and I am loathe to betray that trust. Now, if that is all that Elenwen is demanding of me, I'd recommend you turn back and inform her of this. And if she tries to steal her from this College again, I doubt the Arch-Mage will miss such an occurrence twice in a row."

With a huff, the Altmer emissary turned and stalked away from the Thalmor's quarters, leaving him sat at his desk very much wishing for some Firebrand Wine, or even settling for some simple Nord mead, when his door was slung open barely a minute later, and a rather surprising sight made its face known as a Nightingale of all things strode into his room. "Ahh, and an apostle of Nocturnal makes themselves known. Come to attempt to glean information from me perhaps?" He said to the blank, black veil of darkness covering his visitors face, frowning when they shook their head, speaking in the strange distorted fashion, a bi-product of their veils if the rumors were to be believed.

"No. I know you are not responsible for what happened to Ruby Rose, that conversation all but cemented my theory. I come to offer you an olive branch and a message. J'zargo, a student at the College, has someone gained the knowledge that the Thalmor are behind Ruby's abduction, so I come to warn you of this, lest he attempt something to you. And, Ruby Rose wished to let you know that she knows you aren't responsible, though how she could be so adamant about it without evidence is beyond me, and that she doesn't blame you. It's rather humorous in a way. Even though she is the one injured from this, she fears more for the potential hurt of another than fearing her own wounds. Anyway, she wanted me to let you know this, and that she hopes you could still be...'friends', in her own terms."

Ancano had a rare moment where pure surprise overwhelmed his mental defences, though he quickly schooled his features again. "Well, I must admit I was not expecting that. You can tell...Ruby, that she has my thanks. While I wouldn't say we are 'friends', we are still acquaintances at the very least and I would be loathe to terminate such a relationship over something like this. And I shall keep my eyes and ears up for this J'zargo, though hopefully he decides against anything too foolish."

Nodding, the figure strode back out of the room much the way they entered, barely a farewell passing from them before the door was closed and the Thalmor could relax again.

"...Friends, huh? Doesn't sound so bad."

* * *

**Aww, Ancano. I didn't know you just wanted a friend.**

**I will be playing with him a little more, though Ruby and friends won't be staying in the College, too many things to set Ruby off, plus Halva has it in his head that Ruby could protect herself if she only knew how to shout. A simple one-word shout would have been enough to break her cage and attempt to flee.**

**Anyways, hope you enjoyed it. Kinda dealing with the aftermath of Ruby's...incident, and setting up the next leg of the journey. Next stop, High Hrothgar! Please, tell me what you liked, what you hated, how the chapters have gone back to only being barely 3000 words.**

**Next Chapter:**

**I actually need to talk about this, because I feel like going back to my original method, and the method I use for my random stories, is a better idea than what I'm doing now.**

**All stories will now be uploaded at random!**

**That's not to say I'm going to slack off on writing, I'll just be writing more for the stories I prefer, and less for the ones I don't. I won't be cancelling any of them, but it might end up that certain stories don't get a new chapter for a month whereas another had four uploads in a week.**


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